


Long Time Gone

by GazDibMama



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Pre-Canon, Pre-Series, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-25
Updated: 2017-01-28
Packaged: 2018-05-16 06:35:38
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 28,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5817808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GazDibMama/pseuds/GazDibMama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At 15 Sam runs away from John and Dean, wanting to get away from John, whom he is sure blames him for Mary’s death. Almost five years later, while on a hunt, Dean sees Sam….and Sam’s new family…</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One: Dean

**Author's Note:**

> This is AU set pre-series and pre-canon.
> 
> Not beta'd. All mistakes are mine.

Chapter One: Dean  
Dean had just pulled into a parking space across the street from a diner that the chick at the front desk of his motel had recommended saying that the pies were homemade every day. Sounded like his kind of place. He was on another hunt, alone. Seemed like he’d been alone a lot over the last almost five years. Ever since Sammy left, he and Dad had split up more often than not. He blamed John for Sam running away and John blamed Dean for constantly capitulating to Sam’s demands. John didn’t seem to really care that Sam was gone and put little effort into finding him. Dean on the other hand, had spent the first year Sam was gone doing almost nothing but look for his little brother. Finally, a year after Sam had gone, Bobby had called him saying he had heard from Sam. Sam wouldn’t say where he was, only that he was fine and would only stay in contact with Bobby if the older hunter wouldn’t tell Dean or Dad where he was.

He had nearly come to blows with Bobby over that. Yelling at the older hunter that Sam was his brother and Bobby had no right to keep Sam from him, getting right up into Bobby’s face. Bobby had shoved him off growling. “Look, you idjit. Sam wants to be left alone. And right now we’re all gonna give him that.” Bobby shook his head. “That damn fool of a father of yours….” Bobby had looked back to him with an understanding gaze. “Look, Dean. Sam misses you something fierce, but the boy has to work some shit out for himself and until he does, he doesn’t want to see or talk to you or your Dad.”

That night he cried for the first time since he had woken up to find Sam gone with only a note saying that Sam loved him but needed to leave and not to look for him. But he respected Sammy's wishes, although the passing years had done nothing to fill the hole that his brother leaving had made in his life. 

Shaking those memories from his head, he looked around. It was a funky neighborhood, a mix between hipster and hood. Getting out of Baby, he locked her up and headed across the street to the diner. Going in he could see it was a hipster approximation of the hundreds of small town diners he had eaten in over the course of his life. But it smelled delicious in the place, so it could be as hipster as it wanted. He was in a booth towards the back, he could see the rest of the diner and the street, but was hidden from them. Scanning the menu, he waited for a waitress. The place was pretty busy for what he would consider a slow time, too late for a breakfast rush, too early for lunch.

When the waitress came over he gave her his best panty-droppin’ smile. She was cute and totally deserving of one. He ordered a cheeseburger and fries with a Coke and inquired about the pie.

The waitress smiled. “Oh, our pies today are Apple, Mixed Berry, Peach and Turtle.” There was a voice from the back that Dean couldn’t make out completely. The waitress’s grin got bigger. “And Key Lime. All made this morning.”

Dean grinned back, he had found his place to eat while stuck in the urban jungle trying to figure out if what was causing a number of suspicious deaths in an apartment building was a ghost that needed to be salted and burned or a poltergeist that needed to be exorcised. “Bring me a slice of the Apple.” He was getting ready to start flirting with the girl, because well, that’s what he does, when he spotted something, no someone, outside on the street. Sam.

Lucky for him the waitress had already scampered off to put in his order so she didn’t see the totally gob smacked look on his face. He wanted to get up and run out to his brother, but forced himself to stay put. It looked like Sam was waiting for someone. While his brother waited, Dean took the opportunity to really look at Sam. His baby brother was no longer a baby. Hell, his baby brother had him by at least three inches. Although he had yet to completely fill out, he still looked more ripped than lanky like he had been at fifteen. And the floppy hair he had always made fun of was now long, the back brushing past his shoulders, bangs nearly as long. Sam was wearing a pair of cargo shorts and a Pearl Jam T-shirt on what was a warm late March day. He could see at least one tattoo on his bicep, peeking from the sleeve of his t-shirt. And where his Sam had slouched constantly, this Sam stood tall and straight, broad shoulders back.

Dean was almost ready to get up and go out and reclaim his baby brother when he saw Sam’s most brilliant smile grace his face, dimples on full blast. He looked towards where Sam was smiling and could see a young woman, a smokin’ hot red-head, probably around Sam’s age, walking towards Sam with a little girl in tow. When the little girl saw Sam, she broke loose from the young woman and started running towards Sam, grin splitting her face, not caring about anyone in her way. It took Dean a moment to register that the little girl’s smile was just like Sammy’s had been at that age. Oh shit, that was Sam’s kid! Fuck. Sam had a kid!

He swallowed hard, trying to keep his emotions in check as he watched Sam kneel down and hold his arms out for the little girl who ran straight into them. Sam then stood and swung the little girl around, her excited squeals heard even in the diner. The young woman had made her way to the two of them, and Sam leaned down to pull her into the group hug, giving her, well, in Dean’s opinion, a rather passionate kiss for being right in the middle of the damn sidewalk. He took a drink of water to try and control the eighteen million emotions playing havoc with him at the moment.

His waitress sat his food down in front of him and then looked over to see where he was looking. She smiled. “They’re pretty sickening aren’t they?” He looked up to a broad smile that belied the sarcastic tone of words she had just spoken. The waitress had the look of someone who had seen this particular show a number of times.

He just nodded. “Yeah well, not everyone is comfortable with PDA’s.” Then nodded out to the street. “You know them?” Trying to sound indifferent.

The girl nodded with a smile. “Sam and Des? Yeah. Everyone in the neighborhood knows them and DeDe.” The girl noticed his confused look. “Their little girl. She’s almost three. Has the same birthday as her Daddy.” The girl smiled again. “Enjoy your burger, let me know when you want your pie.” Then walked away to deal with other customers.

He sat there a minute. DeDe. She was almost three. Which meant Sammy would have been seventeen when she was born. Sevenfuckingteen. He hung his head. Three years ago on Sammy’s birthday he had been blind drunk in a motel room in eastern Washington hunting a werewolf, while Sam had been becoming a Dad. 

As he started in on his burger, he was also formulating a plan to track Sam down after he was done eating. Shouldn’t be too hard, the way the waitress spoke about them. He was getting ready to take another bite of his burger when he saw Sam and his family enter the diner. The girl that was his waitress pointed to the booth in front of his. The young woman nodded and headed that way with DeDe as Sam walked off.

He took advantage of the fact that Sam’s back was turned to switch sides of the booth. Sam shouldn’t be able to see him there with as high as the booth backs were. He heard Sam’s heavier footsteps a moment later. “C’mon De, let’s get you into your booster.” His brother’s voice was deeper than it had been five years ago, but smooth, like really good whiskey.

The waitress came over to their booth. “Hey guys, how’s it goin’?”

Sam’s girlfriend answered. “Good Zoe. You ready for Jess’s show tonight?” He was fairly certain he could hear traces of a Georgia accent in her voice. He wondered if Sam had originally met her in Georgia and they came to D.C. together, or if Sam met her here. 

The waitress laughed. “Heck yes, maybe I’ll finally get to actually see her again now that she doesn’t have to spend twenty-four seven at the gallery. You guys doing your usual?”

Sammy answered. “Yeah, but bring an extra side of bacon. Last week munchkin here ate all of hers and then mine.” Dean heard the giggle of a little girl and then the smile in Sammy’s voice. “Yeah, that’s right, just like your Uncle Dean, never met bacon that wasn’t yours.”

His heart went into his throat and he nearly gagged on a fry. Uncle Dean. He was Uncle Dean. Holy shit! Even after almost five years of well, nothing, he still ranked in Sam’s life.

The little girl giggled again. “That’s why I DeDe!”

The waitress chuckled. “Okay munchkin, anything you say.” Then went to turn to put in the order but turned back to Sam’s table. “I bet if you eat all your food, Shawn will send you home with a piece of Peach pie.” Then walked off towards the kitchen.

Dean almost laughed himself silly at the girl’s excited squeal. “Pie!” It seemed like his niece had the same love of pie that he did. Which, by the way, he found to be absolutely freakin' awesome.

Then he nearly wept at Sam’s laugh. How had he managed to go almost five years without it? Taking a drink of his pop, he went back to eavesdropping unapologetically.

He listened to Sam and his girl talk about random things. Apparently Sam was on a school break for the next week. He smiled a little. Sam had always been ridiculously smart and like a nerd, Sam had loved school so much. He was glad that Sammy had made it to college, that he was getting a chance at the "normal" life he seemed to crave badly enough to run away.

They talked about the record shop that Sam’s girl worked at. Upcoming shows that the two of them wanted to see. Talked about Sam’s part time job at a neighborhood bookstore. DeDe chimed in with toddler babble about going to the park and going to see Frankie to get “painted on” like Mommy and Daddy. Guess Frankie was their tattooist. He couldn't see any ink on Sam's girl, but she was wearing long sleeves and jeans, so they could be there.

As he continued to eat, and eavesdrop, Dean noticed that Sam and his girl seemed happy together. Sammy sounded good. He laughed more than Dean had heard from Sam in the last six months before Sam ran the hell off. It didn't hurt that Sam’s girl had a twisted sense of humor and a wicked tongue, he found himself chuckling along with Sam more often than not.

He covertly kept watch as the waitress brought their food. He could see that both Sam and his girl had ordered omelets with bacon on the side. Two orders for Sam. Or one for Sam and one for DeDe. The little girl should be happy with her plate of pancake and bacon with a side of fruit. He wanted to chuckle a little, not surprising that Sammy was making sure his little one got healthy food. Their diet had been one of Sam's myriad of complaints about the life they'd led growing up.

The little family didn’t linger over their brunch. Once done, they allowed the little girl to get out of the booth and make her way back to the kitchen. Dean took the opportunity to take a closer look at her. She had Sam’s smile and dimples. And the shape of his eyes. But her wavy hair was somewhere between her Mommy’s Scully red hair and Sam’s chestnut brown. And her eyes were a vivid blue. She was taller than Sammy had been at that age, and leaner too. She was wearing a pair of blue jeans with pink canvas tennis shoes. She had a long sleeved t-shirt that said ‘You think I’m cute, you should see my Daddy’. Dean had the feeling that the girlfriend purchased that shirt. All in all, from what little he could see, his niece was the epitome of adorable and he had the feeling that if allowed, he'd be spoiling her rotten. Fuck that. Allowed or not, he'd figure out a way to spoil the hell out of her.

Not long after DeDe had gone into the kitchen, she was brought back out by a guy Sam’s age, maybe a year or so younger. Long dark hair back in a ponytail, hair net over his head. He headed to Sam’s booth with her. “Hey, look who I found wandering around my kitchen. Said she was lookin’ for pie…You two know anything about that?” He could hear the good-natured ribbing in the kid’s tone. Plus the kid had a pie box the arm that wasn’t holding Dean’s niece.

He heard Sammy groan. “A whole pie Sean? Seriously? Do you really feel the need to encourage my daughter’s sweet tooth?” Sam’s tone was as good-natured as the kid’s.

Both the kid and Sam’s girl chuckled. The kid set the pie box down and gave DeDe a big hug. “Course I do. That’s what honorary uncle’s do.” Then laughed again. “It’s half a Peach and half a Turtle. So both your girls' will be happy Winchester. And if your girls' are happy…”

Sam’s laugh signaled his capitulation. “I’m happy. You know us too well dude. You going to Jess’s show tonight?”

The kid laughed. “Of course. Zoey threatened to cut any of us who isn’t working if we don’t. But Tameka is looking forward to it, and I’d like to get some tonight.”

DeDe chimed in. “Get some what?”

Dean wanted to laugh again at the look on the kid’s face. The kid was a little embarrassed and a lot confounded. Dean couldn’t blame him, how the fuck do you answer that?

Sammy chuckled again. “Kisses from Tameka.”

He could hear the understanding in the little girl’s voice. “Cause they love each other like Mommy and Daddy.” Like it made perfect sense to her. Dean supposed in her almost three year old mind, it did.

He listened as Sam and his family said good-bye to the people at the diner and headed out. A moment later, Dean flagged down the waitress and cancelled his pie order, claiming to be too full from the awesome burger. Which wasn’t a total lie. The burger had been awesome. He was never too full for pie. He left a twenty on his ticket and then casually hustled outside. He looked for Sam. Luckily, Sasquatch stood out in the hustle and bustle of the city street.

Dean spent the rest of the day and into the evening following Sam and his family around, including some places he'd never ordinarily go into voluntarily. If he didn't know better, he'd think Sam was fucking with him. 

He continued to watch as the three of them went to the park, Sam and his girl chasing their little girl around and taking turns pushing her on the swings. When Sam was pushing her, Dean could hear her as she shouted “Higher Daddy, higher!” Exuberance bursting from her.

He watched as the three of them settled on a blanket under a tree. Dean’s niece taking a nap on her Daddy while Sam read a book. Sam’s girl was stretched out with her head on Sam’s thigh reading a magazine.

He followed them home, to a street and building that looked more 'hood than hipster, if the corner boys were an indicator. And then to the art gallery where apparently, by the way they were greeted, a friend was having an exhibit of her photography. He slipped in and wandered around. There was a mix of nature shots and photographs of people. He spotted one of his niece, standing next to a mime, trying to imitate the dude. He chuckled a little and then choked at the price tag. Couple hundred bucks for a photo? He also saw it already had a ‘Sold’ tag on it. He wondered if Sammy had bought it. Although they certainly looked like they were getting by, Sam and his girl did not look rich. And this was rich people shit.

He wandered to a back room that had a ‘No Minors’ sign. Probably where the naked pictures were. Not that he was opposed to naked pictures. Not in the least. In fact he was a huge supporter of naked pictures, his purchasing history of Busty Asian Beauties proves that. Although he was sure that those here tonight wouldn’t call that art. Whatever. Their loss.

He wandered around for a couple of minutes and then was stopped dead in his tracks. There right in front of him was a large, nearly poster sized photo of Sam and his wife. He’d noticed the rings at the park. The two were naked as the day they were born, not that you could really see anything. Staring at the picture he could see that the photographer had probably been up on a ladder so that she could take the bird’s eye view photo. Sam was spooning his heavily pregnant wife in the picture, his large hand splayed across her belly. The way she was holding her arm covered all but the underside swell of her breast. Sam was resting his cheek on her head. The two looked blissful.

“Too fucking pretty aren’t they?” A smoothly amused voice with a British accent penetrated his thoughts.

He turned to the voice and found himself looking into light blue eyes. He shrugged. “Certainly not ugly.”’

The man took a drink from the wine glass he was holding. “That’s all you have to say? You’ve been standing here ten minutes.”

Fuck. Had he been there that long without keeping track of where Sam was? Double fuck.

“Don’t worry. No one else has noticed.” Taking another look, Dean would admit to himself the guy wasn’t hard on the eyes. Yeah, he primarily slept with women, but every once in a while Dean would meet a guy that he just couldn’t resist. And it wasn’t like he had a type, other than the fact they were all hot as hell. “So which one of them is it? Her or him?” There was a smart-assed smile on the guy’s face.

He shook his head. “Neither.” Then decided to break out the ‘I’m in touch with my inner girl’ persona. “I guess I was just struck by how content they look, even though you can tell they’re pretty young.” He looked back to the picture and the information below it. It was taken six days before DeDe was born, so Sam was sixteen in the picture. He also smiled inwardly at the price tag, and the fact that it was already sold. It gave him a perverse sense of pride that someone would pay that amount for a picture of Sam and his wife naked.

“Chronologically maybe, but those two have been grown-ups for a long time.” The man spoke like he had first-hand knowledge of Sam and his little family.

“You know them then.”

The man stuck his hand out. “Balthazar. My brother Gabriel and I have known Des since she was fifteen and Sam since he met her when she was almost seventeen and he was fifteen. She’s worked in our record shop since she was sixteen.”

Dean shook the proffered hand and then promptly lied about his identity. “James Smith. I’m in town visiting and was walking past the gallery, and I’ve always had a thing for photography…”

Balthazar laughed and then leaned in close. “Three lies in less than fifteen seconds. I’m impressed Dean.”

Oh shit. Sam knew. Sam knew he was here and sent his wife’s fucking boss to tell him to go fuck himself. Fuck!

Balthazar stayed close, his breath in Dean’s ear, kind of going straight to his dick. Only the fear of being rejected by proxy keeping the full hard-on at bay. “Don’t worry Dean, they haven’t seen you. Yet. But if you wish to remain that way, you should probably go now.” The man’s snarky, amused tone had softened. “But so you know, Sam would be glad to see you.”

He took a step back from the other man and raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, ‘cause my phone’s just been ringin’ off the hook.”

Balthazar gave him the eyebrow right back. Damn, he was starting to like this guy. “Been just a little busy the last few years. What’s your excuse? You’re a hunter, you could have found him.”

He stopped for a moment. What was his excuse? After Bobby had told him to give Sam time, he had just waited for Sam to make a move. But what came out was none of that. “How the fuck do you know about hunters?”

Balthazar shrugged. “I know lots of things handsome.” The man grinned and oh hell, it was a good one. He tried to will his dick into submission. “You’d be amazed at my wealth of knowledge.” The grin had turned into a leer. “But now’s not the time for that.” The grin disappeared. “You have a decision my dear Dean, stay and have your reunion with Sam in a public forum, or hightail it out of here and save it for a more private place.” Balthazar took another swallow of wine and Dean panted a little internally watching the man’s throat work. “So… what’s it going to be?”

He closed his eyes for a second, did he really want to reunite with Sam in the middle of a fucking art gallery? Probably not. Even with what Balthazar said about Sam being happy to see him, he had the feeling it wasn’t going to a quiet reunion. He opened his eyes and could see that the blonde already knew his answer. “Later. No need to have a bunch of people see Sam cry like a little girl.” Yeah, that was the reason.

“Whatever you want to tell yourself handsome.” Balthazar smiled like he was pleased with himself for figuring Dean out. 

Taking him by the elbow, Balthazar started to walk him back to a door at the back of the room. When they went through it, it led to a storeroom. Balthazar turned. “You can go out that door. I’ll lock it after you go.”

Before he could even get a hand on the doorknob, Balthazar grabbed his arm again. “They won’t be here much longer. DeDe’s already past her bedtime and she’ll go loopy here soon.” The look on the other man's face telling Dean that this wasn't just idle information.

Dean stopped for a second and looked at Balthazar. The other man seemed like he was trying to help, so he took a deep breath and asked one of the million questions that had come to mind since he'd spied Sammy in front of the diner. "Why is she called DeDe?"

Balthazar's smile was large and genuine, all smirks gone. "Short for Dahlia Dean." The man laughed. "Sam said regardless if it was a boy or a girl they would have the middle name Dean. Des happened to be reading Ellroy's Black Dahlia at the time." The blonde man gave a slight eye roll. "So, she's Dahlia Dean Winchester. And quite possibly the most exceptional child, save Jesus, ever born." Balthazar's voice took a nearly reverent tone.

Dean wasn't sure how he felt knowing that Sam had insisted that his first born have his older brother's name somewhere in theirs. He mostly felt joyful that he was still somewhat important to Sam, a little astonished that Sam would give his little girl a boy's name as her middle name, and a little sad that he hadn't been there to know all of this already. "You don't sound biased at all." His voice a little rougher than usual, but still smart-assed as ever.

Balthazar grinned in response. "I'm completely and utterly biased. But that makes my previous statement no less true." 

He really couldn't stop the smile that was forming on his face. "She is pretty cute, isn't she?"

Balthazar nodded vigorously. "Best of them both." Then nodded towards the door. "You should get going if you don't want to be seen." Then the man was back to the smirking. "I'm assuming I won't need to give you their address?" He shook his head and the smirk broadened. "That's what I thought." Then gazed back towards the main room of the gallery. "They'll probably be on their way in the next 20-30 minutes." Balthazar opened the door and gave him a gentle shove. "Don't worry Dean, it's all gonna work out. Everything is going to be good. For all the Winchester's." He looked back as the door was closing and could see a look he could only describe as satisfaction on the blonde man's face before the door closed and he heard the lock snick back into place.

Sighing, he pulled his flask from his jacket and took a quick pull, shoulders relaxing at the familiar burn as the whiskey went down. After he put the cap back on the flask, he pulled out his phone and flipped it open. Taking a deep breath he hit the button. He really wasn't looking forward to this but Dad needed to know. Needed to know that Sam was found. And that their family had gotten bigger.

Damn, this was gonna suck. But still he sent up a silent prayer that their Dad would answer, that maybe, just maybe, Dad would know what the fuck to do. Because right now he was split right down the middle between staying and running. Balthazar's last words were still ringing in his ears. Everything is going to be good. For all the Winchester's.

What the fuck did that mean and who the hell was this Balthazar guy to even say shit like that? 

He was so lost in his thoughts that his father's voice took a second to register. Instinctively he just blurted it out, no fucking preamble at all.


	2. Chapter Two: John

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean calls John. John calls Bobby. Bobby is awesome.

Chapter Two: John

The sound of his phone ringing pulled John out of the semi-nap he had apparently decided to take. He’d been watching a basketball game while waiting for Bobby to call him with some information on the hunt he was currently on.

Flipping the phone open, he nearly growled into it. “About goddamned time Bobby…”

His eldest son’s voice interrupted. “I found Sam.” Dean sounded a little like he was in shock, but that wasn’t surprising, he knew how much Dean missed his younger brother. 

'You miss him too'. The traitorous voice in his head corrected. “Where?”

“D.C. Noticed some strange deaths in an apartment building. Thought it might be a ghost or a poltergeist. I was having an early lunch at a diner, looked up and there he was, standing outside.” Dean’s voice was a little flat, like he was relaying information to a superior officer.

He shook his head and grabbed the bottle of Jack from the nightstand. It was his own fucking fault that his son spoke to him less like a son and more like a soldier as the years went by. He was going to Hell, he knew that. But it wouldn’t be for the things he had done while hunting, nor all of the illegal activities to finance the hunting. No, he knew he’d be going to Hell simply for what he had done to his sons. Turned one of them into a soldier and ran the other off with a drunken remark he hadn’t really meant, he was just so tired and so angry with Sam at the time. He took a long pull from the bottle.

“How is he? How’d he sound?” Trying to tell his eldest without words that he missed Sam almost as much as Dean has.

Dean’s voice was rough. “Don’t really know.” He could almost picture Dean looking down at his boots, gathering courage to have what Dean referred to as a ‘chick-flick’ moment. “It’s not that easy Dad…”

He took another drink from the bottle. “He’d be happy to see you son.”

Dean laughed a little. It was his nervous laugh. The one he laughed when he was trying not to cry. “He wasn’t alone Dad.” He could hear Dean take his own drink. Kid probably has a flask on him.

He shrugged even though he knew Dean couldn’t see him. “Wouldn’t matter kiddo. Even if he was surrounded by friends, he’d still want to see you.” John wasn’t sure how he knew this, but he did.

“Not his friends Dad.” The nervous laugh came through the phone again. “Try his wife and kid.”

The bottle fell from his hand and onto the floor. He watched the amber liquid seep into the shitty carpeting of the motel off of I-80 just west of the Nebraska/Wyoming border. His Sammy has a wife and a child? Sam was still just a kid himself.

“Wife? Kid?” He shook his head. “Back up, if you haven’t talked to him, how do you know for sure?”

Dean sighed. “Because the apartment building I’m looking into is in their neighborhood and they apparently know everyone. Lucky for me the waitress at the diner and his wife’s boss were chatty. Plus the rings on the fingers are a pretty big fucking clue.” 

“What about the kid?” He couldn’t bring himself to say grandchild. He wasn’t sure he’d be allowed to be a grandpa, so why torture himself.

“Little girl. She’ll turn three the day Sammy turns twenty.” There was something Dean wasn’t telling him. Something that made his eldest really emotional.

“She okay son? Healthy?” His voice sounded like he’d started to gargle gravel.

“Yeah.” There was a smile in Dean’s voice now, he could hear it. And it felt like a weight was being lifted off of his chest. “She’s kinda perfect, Dad. So fuckin’ cute. Got Sammy’s smile.”

His throat constricted further. A little one with Sammy’s smile. Holy fuck. “She got a name son?”

“Dahlia Dean Winchester.” He could just see the shit eating grin on Dean’s face. Dean had his proof that he was still in Sam’s heart. “They call her DeDe.”

“DeDe.” The name came out softly, like it was part of his breath. 'Did you hear Mary? DeDe'. He got up off of the bed and started throwing his shit into his duffel. “Where are you Dean? I can be there in a day or so.”

“You’re coming here?” He shouldn’t have been offended by the incredulous tone of Dean’s voice, but he was, just a little. “Thought the hunt in Wyoming was a bad one.”

“And Bobby can just find someone else to do it.” He sat back down. “Look son, I know I’ve fucked up five million ways with you and your brother…”

“Dad, you had your reasons…” He gave a rueful smile as his oldest boy tried to rationalize the lives he had forced upon them.

“No.” He cut Dean off. His oldest needed to hear this and so did Sam. “I have. If I hadn’t, Sam wouldn’t have run away. You wouldn’t talk to me like I’m your superior fucking officer instead of talking to me like I’m your Dad. And it’s my own fucking fault as Bobby likes to point out on a regular fucking basis. I can’t change what I’ve done, but I can sure as shit make sure I get to know my grandkid and maybe get to salvage some sort of real relationship with my kids.”

“But the demon…”

He cut his son off again. “We’ll still get that bastard. But not at the expense of the rest of our family.” His throat was tight and his eyes burned with unshed tears. “Your mother…” He fumbled for the words. He and Dean were alike that way. Could bullshit all day, but ask one of them to really talk about how they felt and suddenly the words were gone.

“Yeah.” Dean’s voice was quiet on the other end of the phone. 

He bowed his head. Even though his oldest didn’t like to talk about his feelings, or anyone else’s for that matter, Dean always knew how he or Sam were feeling at any given moment. Like it was his job to interpret one for the other. Always caught between two stubborn mules, getting the shit kicked out of him. He always wondered just a little if Sam had left to make Dean’s life a little easier. So Dean wouldn’t spend his life refereeing fights between Sam and Dad, being caught in a perpetual tug of war.

“I’m in a shit-hole called the Royale. Down in the ‘hood. Why do the worst places always have names like the Royale?” Dean using humor to keep the emotional storm at bay.

He barked out a laugh. “No idea kiddo. See you in a day or so.” He paused for a second. “Go to your brother. He probably deserves to know I’m on my way.” Then thought about it. “And if they run, follow.”

“Got it.” Dean was silent for a second. “Dad?”

“Yeah son?”

“He looks good. Going to college.” Dean’s voice took on a slight leer. “Plus the wife is smokin’ hot. Always knew Sammy had a thing for redheads.”

He smiled in the bleak room. “That girl from that TV show.”

“Scully from the X-Files or Willow from Buffy? ‘Cause the kid had a thing for both.” 

They both chuckled at the memories.

“Thanks son.” He took a breath. “When you see him…tell him I miss ‘im.”

“Got it.” He could hear Dean take a slight breath. “We’ll see you soon Dad.” Then his first born son hung up and he was left alone with his thoughts. Well, that would change momentarily.

He flipped his phone back open and punched in Bobby’s number. After a couple of rings Bobby answered. “I told ya I’d call ya when I had somethin’ you idjit. Leave a man to do his work.”

“Find someone else for the hunt Bobby. I can’t do it. Got somewhere else I need to be.”

“If this is about that damn demon, it can wait John. People are dying…”

“Dean found Sam, Bobby.” He knew that Bobby had known for years where Sam was. So had Dean. While it pissed both of them off to no end, he, at least, was secretly glad that Bobby had Sam’s trust. It allowed him to know that his youngest was okay. 

“Really? Damn, he’s lookin’ into that ghost in D.C. isn’t he? I told him someone had that under control.” Bobby didn’t really sound all that put out, nor did he sound like he had tried that hard to steer Dean away.

Putting the pieces together swiftly, he was astounded. “Sam is still hunting?”

Bobby grunted. “Just in and around D.C. Boy wants his family to be safe.”

“You mean his wife and daughter don’t you Bobby?” He may have growled that last bit, but to be fair, he felt he was a little entitled. Regardless of what had happened, Sam was still his son.

Bobby grunted again, except this time he could tell it was a pleased one. “Des and DeDe.” The older hunter’s voice gentled. “You’ll love ‘em John. Sam’s done good.”

“He was seventeen Bobby. Still a fucking kid…”

Bobby cut him off. “A kid who by the time he’d run off had seen and done things men three times his age haven’t, so don’t even go there.” The growl was back. “You don’t get to treat those boys like they were adults from before they popped their first boner and then get all righteous when Sam starts a family a little earlier than planned.” Bobby was really feeling it now, he had to hold the phone away from his ear. “And Sam is a hell of a better father to that little girl than you ever were to him, and if you’re thinking of blunderin’ in there and telling that boy that he fucked up…well, I’ll beat you to D.C. and meet you at the damn door with a loaded shotgun. Those girls are a blessing to Sam, not some fuck up, and I’m warnin’ you John, you better treat this with kid gloves instead of your usual blunt instrument method, or else…”

“Sam will kick my ass?” 

Bobby outright laughed. “I was gonna say shoot a load of rock salt into ya, but sure.” The laughter stopped and Bobby’s voice became deadly serious. It was a tone usually reserved for brutal hunts. “John, Sam didn’t marry this girl because he knocked her up. He married her for the reasons you married the boy’s mother, why I married Karen. He’s in love with her and she’s over the moon about him. They’ve been together from not long after he ran off…”

He was still listening to Bobby, but his mind was racing. Bobby had always given the impression that communication with Sam was infrequent, but the way the other hunter was talking, it sounded like Bobby spoke to Sam on a regular basis.

“You’ve seen him.” He corrected himself immediately. “Them.”

“Course I have. Those boys may be your sons John, but they’re also the closest thing I’ve had…Shit, I couldn’t leave the boy out in the cold. He reached out and I held on.” Bobby’s voice turned gruff with emotion. “I just figured…”

“It’s okay Bobby. I get it.” And he did. He’d left the boys with Bobby enough over the years that close bonds had been forged. Hell, he was almost certain Sam took his first steps in Bobby’s house. “And thanks.”

“No need to thank me for what I would do anyway you idjit. Since you’re gonna go to ‘em, let me give you a little advice, even though I’m not sure you’ll listen, but anyway. If the girls like ya, Sam will have an open mind. The boy misses his family John, don’t give him a reason not to.” He heard Bobby take a drink. “Now let me get back to my business. Hopefully Caleb is done with that salt and burn I sent him on in Colorado.” Then the line was dead.

He closed the phone and finished packing. He loaded his truck and left the room key on the decrepit table. As he pulled the truck onto I-80 heading east, he planned. If he had to, he would beg his youngest for forgiveness, beg to be let back in. He would do whatever it took. He wasn’t sure what had happened, but the moment Dean had mentioned a grandchild, a granddaughter no less, something in him had shifted. Yeah, he still wanted to get that demon bastard that took Mary from them, but it suddenly wasn’t the end all of his existence the way it had been for the last nineteen years.

Pushing the accelerator down a little further and turning the music up, John felt far more at ease than he had in, fuck, if he were honest with himself, since Mary had died. In less than forty-eight hours he would be reunited with his sons, and meet his granddaughter and daughter-in-law. Bobby had called them a 'blessing' to Sam. Maybe they would be a blessing to them all.


	3. Chapter Three: Sam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam finds out John is on his way. Bobby is still awesome.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not beta'd. All mistakes are mine.

Sam suppressed a smirk when Balthazar emerged from the back room and gave him a thumbs up signifying that Dean had left the building.

He'd spotted his brother earlier in the day at the diner. Dean had thought switching sides would conceal him, not thinking that his reflection would show on the stainless steel door leading to the kitchen. But if Dean wanted to hide, Sam was willing to let him. For a while.

He and his girls had continued their day as planned. Des noticed Dean by the time they had hit the park. She had raised an eyebrow asking him silently. How long are we going to let this go on? He gave her a reassuring smile and a shrug. Even though he was nearly overcome by the instinct to go grab his brother into a tight hug, no matter how "chick-flicky" it may have been, he was going to let Dean skulk for a while. It was kind of funny, having Dean follow them to places where he'd normally not be caught dead in. The bookstore where he worked so he could pick up his paycheck and a book he had ordered for De. Then just for giggles he led his wife and daughter into the organic market, just to give Dean the heeby-jeebies from being around so much health food. Des had shot him a small grin as they lingered in the produce section, finally grabbing some grapes and oranges for De.

Then they had led Dean to the old brownstone where they had the top floor apartment. He knew Dean wouldn't be real thrilled that they were on the edge of the 'hood, but the apartment was huge and rent controlled. 

After that they had led his brother to the gallery. He knew eventually Dean would see the photograph of he and Des right before De was born. He wasn't ashamed of it, in fact he loved that photo, loved that it showed the world that Des was his, that he had put De in her belly. He was grateful that Jess was such a good friend and even though she was a broke-ass artist, she cut him a great deal on that photo and the one of DeDe with the mime. And was allowing him to make payments.

As Bal was making his was over to them, he could feel the vibration of his cel in his jeans pocket. He pulled it out and saw Bobby's number. Des leaned into him and looked at the number and then smiled. "Tell that old geezer he's too late to warn us." Then she set their daughter down. "Honey why don't you go say good-night to Uncle Bal..." Before she could finish, their munchkin was off and running.

He flipped his phone open. "Des says to tell you you're too late you old geezer." He couldn't help the smile in his voice. 

Bobby grunted. "Not for this warning. You got about twenty hours before your Daddy shows his face."

Des, who had her ear close enough to hear Bobby, responded for both of them. "What?"

He felt it was an appropriate response. He'd already assumed Dad was somewhere close. That meant Dean was hunting alone. The guilt he was usually able to shove aside happily came roaring back. "Dean's here hunting alone?"

"No you idjit, you're there." Bobby's voice was still gruff. "It's time to stop hidin' Sam. It's time for your Daddy and your brother to meet the rest of their family. And it's time for you to come home."

"I am home Bobby." He knew he sounded too vehement, but it was true. Even if he did miss Dad and Dean, Des and De were his home.

"Boy, you won't truly be home until you have all your family together. I know that, Des knows that. Why do you damn Winchester's have to be so fucking thick-headed?" Bobby gave an impatient sigh. "Home isn't about where you live boy, it's about the people in your life. You know that." He could hear glass rattling in the background. He could just picture Bobby grabbing the bottle of whiskey he kept in one of the kitchen cabinets. "Plus that little one deserves to have her Grand-daddy and her Uncle in her life."

He sighed. He was more than fine with reuniting with Dean. He'd missed his older brother like he was missing a part of himself. But Dad? He wasn't quite so sure about that. While both Des and Bobby had tried to convince him that Dad hadn't meant what he'd said that night, he could never fully believe them. Now, add the fact that he was almost twenty with a wife and an almost three year old daughter? Yeah, Dad was just gonna love that. But John was on his way and he knew there would be no more hiding from his father. "I guess we'll see what happens."

Bobby snorted. But he took heart that it was a fond one. "Idjit." He heard his wife snicker just a little. "Your Daddy is gonna take one look at that little angel and fall head over heels." He could hear Bobby take a swallow of something. "Give him a chance Sam."

He sighed again but gave his wife a small smile. "Guess that's really all we can do Bobby."

"Yeah, it is. Now go find your brother before he works himself into a state." The older hunter sighed. "It'd take a day or so, but if you want, I'll come out there so you've got some extra back-up."

"I don't know Bobby. We'll see how it goes." He glanced over to where Bal was holding De, who was starting to nod off a little on his shoulder. "But we gotta go, De is falling asleep on Balthazar, so we should get her home. One of us will call you in the morning."

"Okay." The older hunter paused for a second. "Give him a chance Sam. He's missed you. I'll talk you soon, son." Then hung up.

He closed the phone and put it back in his pocket and looked down at his girl. "You think you're ready for this?"

She shrugged but there was a little mischief in her very blue eyes. "Worst case scenario is one of you ends up with an ass full of rock salt." Wrapping her arms around him. "Although I'd really hate to damage near perfection." As she groped his ass just a little. They were in public after all.

Hugging her closer he laughed. "Near perfection?!" He kissed the top of her head. "Let's go get our munchkin home."

"And let your brother stop skulking around?" Des pulled away and took their daughter from Balthazar. "Thanks Bal." She leaned over and gave the 'man' a kiss on the cheek. 

"No worries darling. Although I'm sure by now he already has your place staked out." The blonde chuckled. "Told him that you three would be leaving soon." Bal nodded to the bobbing head of their daughter. "That it was past her bedtime."

He smiled and patted Bal on the shoulder. "It is. Thanks for talking to him man, I appreciate it."

Balthazar waved him off. "It was my pleasure." Then nodded towards De. "You should really get her home."

Both he and Des nodded and then made their way around to say goodnight to their friends.

When they got close to their apartment, he could see Dean leaning in an alley way. As they got closer, Dean turned trying to hide himself, and he couldn't resist. Leaning down to his daughter, he started to whisper in her ear. When he was done, De looked up at him and grinned while nodding.

When they got about twelve feet past the alley way entrance, he whispered to his daughter. "Now De."

His daughter grinned and then almost shouting. "You comin' Uncle De?! We got pie!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have two chapters that can go next. One is from Bobby's POV, the other Dean's. Which should go next?


	4. Chapter Four: Bobby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bobby and Jim Murphy have a chat. And Bobby is still awesome.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, not beta'd. All mistakes are no one's but mine.

Hanging up the phone from talking with Sam, he slammed back the rest of the bourbon and set the glass down on the table so he could pour another.

He knew when he had talked to Dean a few days ago, this was probably going to happen. At least he'd been hoping. He'd been on Sam for the last couple of years, ever since the boy turned eighteen and John could hold no legal sway over Sam any longer, to at least call his brother. He was absolutely fed up with watching Dean go through the motions of life. It could get a hunter dead. And fast.

But Sam, taking after the king of bull-headedness that was John Winchester, flat out refused. The boy had given him all sorts of bullshit excuses up to and including DeDe's existence. Even Des couldn't get him to budge and she was a master at getting a intractable Winchester to do what she wanted.

So, when this hunt came up and Dean called him about it, he hadn't steered him away at all. But he hadn't expected Dean to call John right away, although with DeDe, he shoulda figured that was news Dean would feel needed to be shared immediately considering how that boy felt about family.

Sighing, he picked up the phone again and dialed. A moment later, Jim Murphy's voice came on the line. "Bobby. What can I do for you?" 

He bit the bullet. "Dean ran across Sam in D.C."

The silence on the other end stretched until he heard a muttered. "Thank God." Then Jin's voice was back to it's usual volume. "Does John know?" Jim sounded wary, but who could really blame him? When John had confessed to him and Jim what he'd said that had ran the boy off, well, it was the closest he'd ever seen Jim and John come to blows. Hell, neither he nor Jim spoke to John for close to a year. While he and John had made their way back to their former friendship, which was admittedly rocky during what they considered to be the best of times, John and Jim hadn't quite made it that far.

He picked up the glass eyeing the bourbon in it. "Yep. And John's already on his way to D.C."

And John was going to be pissed that Jim knew almost as long as he had where Sam was and what was happening with him. Hell, Sam and his girls had spent the week DeDe turned six months at Jim's up in Blue Earth. Just a precaution, considering Sam's own history. Jim also utilized the time and performed De's baptism. And then a year and two days after De was born, Jim performed the wedding vows for Sam and Des. That was the first time that both he and Jim had seriously talked to Sam about contacting his brother. "Does he know about..." 

He cut Jim off. "Yep." Then poured the shot down his throat, grimacing slightly at the burn. "Well, he knows Sam is married and has a little girl, but that's it. I figure it's up to Sam and Des to tell them the rest of it." He knew he sure as shit wasn't volunteering to do it. Fuck, after he'd found out, he went on a three day bender that led to a four day hang-over. He didn't even want to think of how John was going to take it. He didn't need the added headache.

"That would be for the best, I think." Jim paused again. He could feel it comin'. "Do you think one of us should go out there? Corral John if he goes out of bounds." Jim's tone implying that Jim really didn't want to be the one to do it.

"Sam said he'd let me know. And I'm pretty sure the girls' presence will keep John on his best behavior." He really wasn't, but it was nice to think. And it was one of those things that he hoped if you put it out there, it would come true. And he had ocean-front property in Nebraska to sell someone. There were so many ways for this to go bad. He started to internally debate the merits of a third shot.

"I'm not sure about that at all Bobby. John says the wrong thing, he's as likely to have Des in his face as he is Sam." And didn't Jim sound all sorts of amused by that.

He decided against the third shot and instead started pacing his kitchen. "Oh, I know." That wasn't an incentive to head that way for him. 

At one point in his life, he had been sure that there could never be any one as protective of Sam than Dean. But after meeting Des, he could see the two were tied in a dead heat when it came to Sam. But if there was one place Des had the edge, it was she'd go after John where Dean wouldn't dream of it. Between the boy's innate sense of family and John's training, it just wasn't in Dean to really get in John's face. Des, on the other hand, would have no issues. And no fear.

Jim interrupted his thoughts. "If you don't mind some unsolicited advice, I think you should go. If John messes this up, the kids will need you." 

He stopped the damn pacing and sat down at the table and poured that third shot. "Yeah, probably should." 

"Let me know if you need anything." Jim sounded far lighter now that he'd agreed to go.

"Yeah. I'll do that. Talk to you later Jim." He hung the phone up.

Sitting back down, he shook his head. He'd call Sam in the morning and let the boy know that back up who knew how to deal with John was on the way. 

After throwing back the third shot, he decided to get up and start making arrangements to be gone a few days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it!


	5. Chapter Five: Dean

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean finally comes face to face with Sam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, not beta'd. All mistakes are mine.

It seemed like he'd been waiting forever in an alleyway a couple of block's from Sam's place when he spotted the three of them, Sam carrying DeDe in one arm, while the other was wrapped around his wife. As they got closer, he turned so Sam wouldn't be able to see his face. When he heard the three of them pass him, he turned back around and tried to think of an approach that wouldn't get him attacked. Then a small voice startled him.

"You comin' Uncle De?! We got pie!" His niece's voice was filled with light, laughter, and love and it warmed him from the inside out. But damn, that also meant that Sam had seen him. Or knew he'd be waiting. Yeah, that Balthazar dude probably told Sam he was here.

He stepped out of the alley only to be nearly taken down at the knees by an almost three year old bear-hugging his legs.

Damn, he must have gotten something in his eyes while waiting in the alley for them to be watering like this. He was not crying. Nope. Not him. Not in the slightest.

He looked down to see a pair of very blue eyes and a familiar grin looking up at him. "We 'prised you!" While grabbing his hands and trying to climb him.

He couldn't help but grin through his 'not' tears as he picked his niece up. "You sure did kiddo." He looked over to Sam to see that his baby brother was in the same shape as he was. Sam was grinning wide through, oh, for fuck's sake they were both crying like babies.

As he was opening his mouth to speak to his brother, his niece started to bounce in his arms. "Let's go home Uncle Dean, I want pie!" Like this was an everyday occurrence and not the first time she had met him.

He ticked his eyes over to Sam and his wife, both of whom were grinning like they'd won the lotto. Hell, Sam was actually laughing. "I'd get moving if I were you. She's worse than you are about pie."

Out of reflex and before he could stop himself. "That's just because you don't appreciate the awesomeness that is pie, Sammy."

The breath from his niece's laughter made his heart feel like it would beat out of his chest. But he could only grin when Sam just rolled his eyes and started walking towards the apartment building.

Shrugging, he just grinned at his niece. "He's just mad 'cause he knows we're right." Enjoying her giggles as they followed Sam and his wife. 

When they reached the building, Sam turned and took DeDe from him. "Why don't you and Mommy go upstairs and get pie ready and me and Uncle Dean will be up in a few minutes." Fuck, Sam sounded so...parental. He blinked with the stark reality that his baby brother was no longer a boy, but a man.

DeDe smiled good-naturedly. "Okay Daddy." Transferring easily into her mother's arms, as she was punching in an entry code to the building. When the door lock unlatched, the two girls went in.

The ease of the moment had disappeared and he was starting to fidget a little as Sam turned to him. His baby brother gave him a shaky smile. "Dean..." Sam's voice was unsure and breaking just a little.

He did what was as natural as breathing to him. Wrapped his arms around this huge man-child that was his brother and started to shush him. "It's okay Sammy." He swallowed hard. "We're gonna be okay." He was hoping like hell that Balthazar dude had some sort of crystal ball and was not yanking his chain when he'd spouted off his parting shot.

He could feel as Sam took a couple of calming breaths, so he gave him a little squeeze before he let go. Sam stood back and wiped his eyes, still looking a little unsure. His stomach twisted a little at the thought that Sam was unsure around him. So in blatant disregard of his 'no chick-flick moments' rule, he reached out again. "I mean it Sam. We're gonna be okay." He flicked his eyes to the ground. "I just gotta know though, was I... did I..." He wasn't even sure what to say. Whether or not IF he should say it.

Sam's eyes widened and a flash of pure hurt and guilt crossed those kaleidoscope fox eyes. "God, no Dean. No." Sam sat down on the front steps of the building and hung his head for a minute. When Sam looked back up at him there was such a look of sadness in them that he could feel a corresponding ache in his heart. "I just couldn't live with Dad another day." He didn't think his brother's voice could hold such hurt, but he was wrong. "And I knew you wouldn't leave with me. I..."

Sitting down by his brother, he bumped his shoulder to Sam's. "Yeah. Okay." He took a deep breath. "That explains, kinda the why, but how come after you were legal and Dad couldn't do shit about where you lived, why didn't..." He knew he was starting to sound like a pining bitch, but fuck it, he pretty much had been. Well, at least emotionally.

Sam's voice was sure and clear again when he spoke. "De." He stared at Sam in confusion. Sam rolled his eyes just a little and once again he couldn't help his smile at the familiar gesture. "No, Dean. I mean, if it had just been Des, I could have probably talked you into not telling Dad you were in touch with me. But I knew the minute De was born, you'd tell Dad."

He wanted to assure his brother the he wouldn't of, but considering he already had... he really didn't have a leg to stand on there. "Yeah, about that..."

Sam smiled, dimples popping. "I know. Dad's on his way."

He stared, open-jawed at Sam for about thirty seconds before his brain kicked in. "Bobby."

Sam's smile wavered just a touch. "Yeah. Don't be mad at him Dean, he was just doing what I asked him to. If it makes you feel better, he hasn't been happy about it." Sam's smile was back full force. "And you know how Bobby is when he's not happy about something."

He laughed a little. Yeah, he was aware. "Yeah, okay. Bobby's off the hook." He chuckled. "You know when I called him a few days ago about comin' out here, Bobby muttered something about a hunter who already lived in the area, but that they were young and might need a little back up." He grinned. "Sneaky bastard."

Sam laughed. "Yeah. He is. But you drove all this way for nothin'. Super of the building stole a family bracelet. Already salted and burned." Sam gave him a satisfied smirk.

He stood up and grinned down at his brother. "What do you mean nothing?! I seem to remember an offer of pie. And good pie is worth a long drive Sammy." He put a hand out to pull his brother up. When he did, Sam wrapped him in another hug.

"You're so easy." Sam laughed as he let go to run up the steps.

He shrugged with a grin. Yeah. He really was. "Let's go have some pie Sammy. Introduce me to the rest of my family." He gave Sam a playful shove. "Get movin' bitch."

Sam turned to him with a blinding grin as he held the door open. "After you. Jerk."

As he walked through the door, he closed his eyes for a second. He wasn't sure if there was a God, but just in case, he sent up a word of thanks with every atom of his being. He was with Sam again. He was home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you're enjoying it. I welcome all comments, concerns and constructive criticism.


	6. Chapter Six: Sam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam brings Dean inside. Pie is eaten. A favor is asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, not beta'd. All mistakes are mine I tell you, mine!
> 
> Also, this chapter contains moments of monumental saccharine sweetness. May cause tooth decay. But Dean Winchester + 3 year old little girl? It's just how it goes.

He was grinning as he led his brother up to their apartment on the fourth floor. While the first three floors of the old brownstone building were split between two apartments, he, Des and De had the entire fourth floor and the roof. Until they had moved in the landlord hadn't been able to keep anyone in the apartment for longer than three months. The original occupant of the apartment and original owner, had been haunting the place. The current landlord had been so grateful for their help, they now had the place as long as they wanted for a pittance of rent. 

Opening the door to the apartment, he grinned at Dean. "After you." Enjoying how his brother's jaw dropped at the sheer size of the place. He could see Dean's eyes bouncing around taking in the selection of second hand couches and chairs grouped in front of what even Dean would have to admit an absolutely stellar entertainment system. He grinned wider as Dean's eyes fell on the wall where nearly two dozen milk crates that Des had painted and zip-tied together housed LP's, CD's, and cassettes. 

Dean looked over to him with a wide smile. "I think I'm a little in love with your wife Sammy. If she's got Zeppelin, I'm a lot in love with her."

"Every single one." He didn't bother to hide the happiness he was feeling. He had the three people he loved most under the same roof for the first time and he finally felt...right. Like the puzzle that was him had been lacking this one piece, and Dean finally being here, wandering around their living room, taking in the scope of the living and dining rooms, it had fallen into place. So no, he wasn't going to hide how happy he was. He knew that eventually he and Dean would fight about how he left and cutting Dean out for so long, he was okay with that. They would yell, throw punches, and then hug it out after Des would threaten to shoot them both if they didn't.

Dean's grin became wider and teasing. "Zeppelin and a love of pie? Damn Sammy, better watch out, I may just try to snake her from ya." 

"You know I always share Dean." Shit. It popped out before he had a chance to wrangle THAT stray thought back down his throat. And he really hadn't meant to lower his voice to the husky drawl that his wife calls the 'Sexy Sam'. But being in Dean's presence was a lot like being in Des's for him, a natural aphrodisiac. 

Recovering at the speed of light from shock, Dean quirked an eyebrow and a smirk. "That you do, Sam."

Before he could say anything else, his daughter yelled from the kitchen. "Daddy! Uncle Dean! The pie is in HERE!!"

Dean blinked and then grinned again. "You heard the little lady Sammy. Pie is in there." And sauntered, fucking sauntered off like he'd always been there, towards the sounds of DeDe's giggling.

As he made it to the threshold of the kitchen, his cheeks were starting to ache a little from the grinning, but he couldn't fucking help it. There was DeDe taking Dean by the hand. "You sit here Uncle Dean. It has the big piece of pie. Daddy says you love pie like me, so you gotta have a big piece 'cause you big. Mommy said you wanted 'rish coffee but I told her no, you want milk just like me, 'cause Daddy and Grampa Bobby say all the time I just like you, so you would have milk like me." De barely took a breath before plowing on. "And see? My chair is right next to you!" Pushing her Uncle into his chair and climbing up to the one next to him. "And we have the same kind of pie!" She picked up the fork that was next to Dean's plate and handed it to him. "C'mon Uncle Dean, let's have pie!" Grabbing her own little fork and digging into the sliver that Des was letting her have.

Dean looked a little shell-shocked by Hurricane DeDe but like everyone, melted at the sunshine smile that radiated out of her cute little face. "Sounds good to me sweetheart." His brother looked at him with eyes filled with a swirl of emotions that made his heart twist, race, and dance the Samba to, then flicked those green eyes towards Des.

Shit, he'd forgotten that he hadn't really introduced his brother to Des. From the second Dean had walked out of the alley, everything had felt so natural, like Dean had always been there and was just returning from an out of town trip, that it just slipped his mind. And maybe it was because he never hid Dean or Dad from Des and DeDe. Dean and Dad were talked about like all members of their 'family', just they weren't there. He'd always told DeDe that her Uncle and Grandpa John were out saving people from bad things, but they loved her. He knew eventually he would at least make amends with Dean and didn't want his brother to be a complete stranger to De. 

And Des? Well, he'd never hidden anything from Des, not that he could. She knew him inside-out and loved all of him. She knew what he and Dean had been to each other before he'd run away and didn't judge them at all. Just gave him that beatific smile she gets sometimes, nodded sagely like someone had just whispered in her ear, and uttered one word. "Soulmates."

He turned a little pink as he noticed both Dean and Des staring at him in anticipation, twin smirks on their faces. "Dean this is my wife, Des Winchester." Then turned to his wife. "Des, this is my brother Dean." Then stuffing the urge to flip them both off because De was in the room, he settled for a snarky grin. "Better?"

De stopped shoveling pie in her mouth and looked at her Mommy and Uncle, shaking her head. "You two are being silly." Then leaned into Dean. "Do you like the pie Uncle Dean?" Then looked at the untouched glass of milk. "Aren't you gonna drink your milk? Daddy says it makes me big and strong, so you wanna drink the milk so you get as big and strong as Daddy..."

He felt that familiar warmth in his chest that he associated with Dean blossom as Dean barked out a good-natured laugh after taking a drink of the milk. "Unfortunately sweetheart, I'm as big as I'm gonna get. Looks like your Daddy beat me in the big and strong categories." Then leaning over like they were plotting the take over of the world. "But I'm prettier, so it works out." Flashing a grin at both him and Des.

Des looked Dean up and down and then over to him. "I don't know De...I think Daddy and Uncle Dean are neck and neck on that count, don't you?" The cat who got the canary smile on her face.

De nodded seriously. "You're pretty too, Daddy." Her little voice as sweet as it could be.

Dean roared with delighted laughter and the four of them settled down and finished off their pie. De waited patiently for Dean to finish. The moment his brother pushed the plate away, De snagged his hand. "C'mon Uncle Dean. I'ma show you my room and you can read me a nigh-night story." She was trying to pull Dean out of his chair. 

As his brother was staring to get up, Des leaned over and scooped their daughter up. "Why don't we get into jammies and brush teeth and THEN you can show Uncle Dean your room and if he wants to, then he can read you your nigh-night story." 

De looked over at Dean, and his brother reached out and gently pulled on a strand of hair. "Go get ready for night-night kiddo. I'll be waitin' right here for you." His brother gave De a little wink. "Then we'll go get some story-time goin'. Sound good to you?" Like Dean was worried about De being upset Dean was siding with Mommy.

Of course all their daughter did was rush forward and fling herself at his brother. "Sounds like the best!" Jumping down and running off towards her bedroom.

Des followed shaking her head and laughing. After the girls left the room, Dean turned back to him and his heart nearly stopped. Dean looked open, vulnerable, and dare say, almost content. The smile was warm and genuine, his eyes all crinkled. "Pretty amazing."

"What? De, Des, or the pie?" Trying to keep his voice light. Because he sure as shit didn't want to start anything heavy right now. De would pick up on it and he didn't want her worked up in a bad way before going to bed. Yeah, she was wound for sound right now, but he knew his daughter. She would fall asleep about half-way through whatever story she chose. And would probably sleep later than usual tomorrow morning because at this point they were already almost two hours past bedtime.

Dean grinned as he flipped him off. "The girls Sammy." Then chuckled. "Although that pie was awfully good." The chuckles faded to be replaced by the grin again. "Really Sam, they seem to be pretty fuckin' awesome."

He grinned right back. "They are." He felt warm all over and before he could stop himself. "I'm so sorry Dean. I really am, I know I should have called, I know I should have..."

His brother shook his head cutting him off. "I know you are Sam, and eventually we'll have to go all 'chick-flick' again, but can we hold off?" Dean looked around the kitchen and then back over to him, looking all at once much older than his years and the lost little boy his brother hid at his core. "I just want to read my niece a night-night story, and then maybe hang out with my little brother and sister-in-law for a bit before I go to the motel."

He frowned. "You already checked in?"

Dean shrugged. "Got the room and the key. Haven't taken any of my shit in yet, why?"

He smiled. "Guestroom, dude. Guarantee you'll get a better night's sleep here than any crap motel around here." Then he felt a little awkward, maybe Dean didn't want to stay with them. Maybe he wanted to go back to the...

"Hell yes." The words flowing out of his mouth like water. "Shit, you know I'd rather be where you are any day, I just thought maybe me askin' to stay here was a little too much, too soon..."

He shook his head with a small laugh. "Dude, De would have a total meltdown if she got up tomorrow and you weren't here." He grinned at Dean. "She may never let you leave."

Dean smiled as he stretched in his chair. "Ladies love me, what can I say?" Then Dean cocked an ear towards the bedrooms and lowered his voice. "Can I ask you to do something though while I'm reading to De?" His older brother's voice was now serious and a little foreboding. He could feel his gut twist.

"Sure." He knew he hadn't hidden his trepidation as well as he wanted when Dean rolled his eyes.

"Look dude, you know Dad is on his way here..." Dean sounded almost reluctant.

He nodded. "Yeah, so?"

Dean reached in his pocket and pulled out his cel phone and sat it on the table. "I want you to call him and tell him you know and that you're okay with him coming here." His older brother continued before he could say anything. "Look, I don't know what the fuck went on between you and Dad before you left. And I probably don't wanna know, but Sam, when I called Dad tonight, he walked out on a really bad fucking hunt when I told him I'd found you and about Des and De."

He blinked at that. Dad walked out on a hunt? Dad didn't do that. "You must have heard him wrong, he must have just finished..."

"No Sam." Dean shook his head abruptly. "Walked the fuck away." He could hear the girls making their way back to the kitchen. Dean slid the phone towards him. "He knows he fucked up. He knows how bad. Can you at least just let him know he's not walking into a punch in the face?" Then his brother's smirking grin was back. "At least not right away. Just do it. Please?"

He couldn't believe he was going to agree with this, but it was Dean, and he had even said please. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but okay."

Dean nodded with a small smile as the girls came back in the room. His brother allowed De to crawl back in his lap before he stood up with her. "I think someone made me a promise to show me their room and let me read them a night-night story." Tweaking her nose. "Any idea who that might be?" He was sure he was going to go into insulin shock if the two of them got any fucking cuter.

"ME!" Dean took De's squealing like a champ. 

"How about if I walk, you tell me where to go, okay?" Making his way out of the kitchen.

De looked back over Dean's shoulder. "You comin' Daddy?"

He waved them on. "Go ahead, I'll catch up with you, Uncle Dean, and Mommy in a minute. Just have to do something real quick." He did not want to make the call to Dad with De in the room in case it turned into a fight. Des frowned a little and he gave her a very slight head shake to let her know that he would be fine, not that she wouldn't know the instant he wasn't.

His wife shrugged and turned to follow De and Dean. Sighing, he picked up the phone and scrolled the contacts until he came to Dad's number. And no, his hand wasn't shaking at all as he pressed the button to make the call.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you're enjoying it. I welcome all comments, concerns, and constructive criticism.
> 
> Thanks to all of the lovelies who have left kudos, they are much appreciated.


	7. Chapter Seven: John

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a phone call between father and son. And a three year old.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, not beta'd so all the mistakes are mine.

Humming along to the Fogerty song that had been on the radio in the gas station, he had just put the keys in the ignition and started the truck when his cel phone went off, Dean's name popping up on the screen. Flipping the phone open, he made sure to keep the anxiousness out of his voice. "Did you talk to him?"

There was silence for a moment. "Uh...Dad?"

Sam. Of all of the things he could have predicted, hearing Sam's voice on the other end of the phone was not one of them. He pulled the truck into a parking space around the side of the gas station. "Sam." Turning the ignition off. "I'm going to guess you're with your brother."

"Yeah." There was another pause. "Uh, yeah. He asked me to call you, so..."

Sam's voice was deeper than it had been, the odd crackles of his adolescence were long gone. He gripped the steering wheel, steeling himself for his youngest boy's rejection. "It's okay Sam, I understand." His knuckles were turning stark white. "I can't say I blame you after what I..."

"What?! Oh, God." Sam huffed out a breath. "Dean asked me to call to tell you that I know you're on your way here and that you aren't walking into a punch in the face." The words nearly tumbling over each other coming out of his son's mouth. "At least not right away."

The last words hit him and he laughed despite how hard his heart was hammering in his chest with relief. "That's good to know." He took a relaxing breath. "Sam, I..."

"Can you hold on a second?"

"Sure, son." He took another calming breath as he heard a voice in the background. Then he heard Sam.

"What do you need De?"

Expecting to hear Dean, he was floored to hear a small voice. "I forgot to tell you I wuv you." All of a sudden there was a lump the size of Texas in his throat. "Are you talkin' to Unca Gabe?"

"I love you too, honey. No, I'm not talking to your Uncle Gabe, I'm talking to...wait, why would you think I was talking to Uncle Gabe?" Even though Sam probably couldn't hear him at the moment, he still hid his face in his shoulder to muffle his laughter at Sam's flummoxed tone.

"Well, I hoping you were so I could tell him to bring more candy tomorrow. 'Cause he always brings me candy but I gotta share with Unca De. Who are you talkin' to? Is it Grampa Bobby?! Can I talk? I wanna say hi and tell him about Unca De." Her voice was like the sun coming out after a long spell of rainy days.

"Uh, it's not Grandpa Bobby either." He could hear some slight rustling. "I'm talking to your Grandpa John." 

"I wanna talk!" As she was squealing, he ran a hand across his eyes, rubbing away the prickling of tears. "Hi Grampa John!" 

Nothing came out the first time he opened his mouth. Swallowing, he tried again. "Hi sweetheart." He had no idea what to say. "How are you?" When in doubt go with the standards.

"I the best! We 'prised Unca De and then we came home and had pie and Unca De likes the same pie as me and then Mommy took me to put on 'jamas so Unca De can read me a nigh-night story. We're reading 'Bread and Jam for Frances', you know that book Grampa John?" He could feel the first tear slide down as she went on like he'd answered. "It's my favorite. But I forgotted to tell Daddy I wuv him so I came here to tell him and now I gettin' to talk to you! Are you comin' home like Unce De? I would like that. Then I can give you hugs and kisses and show you my room and..."

"De, you have to stop talking so Grandpa John can answer you. We talked about that remember?" Sam's voice had that patiently amused tone that he can vaguely remember having with Dean when Dean was her age. He's not sure he ever had that tone with Sammy.

Her voice was a little distant, like she had turned her head away. "Oh." Then her voice was closer again. "I sorry Grampa John."

Swallowing again so he wouldn't break down and fucking bawl, he smiled out at the nearly empty parking lot. "That's okay sweetheart. I like listening to you talk." And he did. Hell, he was pretty sure already he would be pretty fucking content to let her prattle on about whatever thought came into her little head for the rest of his life.

"'Kay." Then there was silence for a couple minutes.

"De?" He could hear Sam in the background.

"Grampa said he likes lisning to me and now I don' know what to say so I thinkin'...Oh. I know..."

Another voice appeared in the background. "De? What are you doing? Uncle Dean is waiting to finish up with Frances." 

"I talkin' to Grampa John! I was axin' if he's comin' home like Unca De."

"That's awesome honey." Sam's wife sounded cautiously optimistic. "But, it's time to tell him good-night and go finish your story."

"'Kay. Nigh-night Grampa John, I wuv you! Will you be home when I wake up?"

The tears were really starting to flow. He really needed to get the hell off of the phone before he was a total mess. "No, honey. I won't get there until sometime late afternoon, early evening." Using his free hand he wiped more tears away. "But I promise I'll be there before your night-night time tomorrow, okay?"

"'Kay! I wuv you!" He heard a smacking sound. "I give you kisses over the phone!"

"Back at you sweetheart. You should go let Uncle Dean finish your story, I bet he'd like to know how it ends. Why don't you get back to him and let me talk to your Daddy."

"'Kay. Bye, Grampa John. See you tomorrow!"

Listening to the clamor as she was probably climbing off of Sam, he pulled out his flask and flipped the top, taking a long pull hoping the burn of the whiskey would dry the tears. No such luck.

"Dad?" Sam's voice was a little amused, a little exasperated, and still guarded as all hell. "You okay? De's a little..."

"I'm good son." Clearing his throat. "Really." He let out a deep breath. "She's..."

"I know, we're working on the whole letting the other person talk thing..." Sam sounded a little defensive.

"She sounds wonderful Sam." He tried to cover his hiccup of a sob with a laugh. "And it sounds like your brother finally has someone who appreciates the important things with." Putting his head down on the steering wheel. "She knew me." That epiphany sent him closer to the edge that he'd been trying for over nineteen years to avoid. "She asked if I was coming home."

His heart hovered near hopeful that Sam, regardless of what had been done to him as a baby, whatever evil may lurk somewhere in his blood, had forgiven him for what he had uttered in a fit of drunken rage. He hadn't realized how much he really needed that until right fucking now.

"You're her grandfather." Sam's voice was soft, but absolute in it's conviction. His son took a deep breath. "And it's time for you to meet her." Another deep breath. Maybe he wasn't the only one trying not to bawl like a fucking baby. "Call when you get close. We'll give you directions."

"Yeah son. I can do that. I'll talk to you in about eighteen hours."

"Okay." Sam paused for a second. "Be careful." 

Then Sam was gone, the disconnecting of the call jarring his ear. Closing the phone, he tossed it aside as he took deep breaths trying to stop the sobs that were already starting to rattle in his chest. But the more air he took in the more futile his task had become.

After a couple of minutes, he just gave up and let almost nineteen years of tears come. After the initial tears that had come with Mary's death, and after he found out about what lurked in the dark, he had locked them up with whiskey and the hunt, drowning himself in liquor and violence any time they threatened to come. Instead of the Daddy that he had been, he had become 'sir' and masked his terror at losing all he had left of his beautiful Mary by becoming cold and rigid.

But here's the thing about being cold and rigid. It only takes a small thing to break you. And as he sobbed out his grief, his anger, and most of all his regret, he prayed to Mary that maybe this small thing could put this broken, old man back together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you're enjoying it. I welcome all comments, concerns, and constructive criticism.
> 
> Huge Sammy-sized thank you to all of the lovelies that have left kudos. 
> 
> The book that DeDe mentions is a real book. The 'Frances the Badger' series is by Russell and Lillian Hoban (although a couple of the books are illustrated by Garth Williams). They were published from the mid-sixties to the early seventies. My mother read them to me as a little girl and they were a favorite. Pretty much any little girl in my life has received one of these books at some point.


	8. Chapter Eight: Dean

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, not beta'd. So all the mistakes found within are mine.

Sunlight hitting his face woke Dean. After stretching, he laid there for a moment relishing not only the soft, but firm mattress, but the fact that the sheets smelled like spring instead of bleach and disinfectant. Plus they weren't like sandpaper on his skin. It really was the little things that made life worth living.

Looking over at the cheap alarm clock that was on the dresser, he nearly bolted out of bed. It was almost ten in the goddamned morning! He couldn't remember the last time he had slept that hard. Or woke up feeling this good.

Throwing himself out of bed and slipping into a pair of sweats and a Metallica tee, he made his way out to the living room where he found Sam stretched out on the couch, reading a book. There was a mug on the end table by him. Sam looked up from his book and smiled.

"Morning. You sleep okay?" Today his brother was in a bluish-green t-shirt and a pair of jeans. "Des left towels out in the bathroom if you want to take a shower."

Eyeing Sam's mug, he jerked his head towards the kitchen. "Any more of that?" The coffee smelled excellent. Dark and rich.

"Yeah, mugs are in the cabinet above it." Not moving from the couch.

"Way to be a host, bitch." He couldn't help teasing Sam a little, he felt too damn good. And in his book, when feeling good, teasing Sam is a great way to pass the time. "Can't even pour your guest a cup of coffee." Shaking his head mockingly at his baby brother before walking off to the kitchen. Three, two, one...

"Not a guest, jerk." Yep, there was Sam, right on his heels, challenge accepted. "According to De, you are at home, sleeping in your room." He turned and Sam had a mile wide smile on his face. He grinned right back. "So get your own damn cup of coffee."

Chuckling, he turned to the cabinet to grab a mug. "Speaking of my new favorite people in the world, where are the girls?" He was only partially teasing on that count. DeDe was a fuckin' given, she was Sam's blood, of course he was gonna freakin' adore her. He was kind of surprised by how much he liked Des. She was funny, kind, smokin' hot, and absolutely over the moon for Sammy. He'd enjoyed the time the three of them had spent hanging out last night. He hadn't laughed like that since, well shit, long before Sam had pulled his runner. It seemed like when Sam hit fourteen, he and Dad just started locking horns every damn time they were in a room together. Then the rest of the time he had been a moody teen, really moody teen.

Pouring his mug full, he turned back around to find Sammy still grinning like a loon. "At the store, getting a couple of things she felt were needed for brunch." At least Sam had the good sense to roll his eyes when he said the word. "And then stuff for dinner tonight." Sam was grinning so hard he was sure his baby brother's cheeks were hurting. 

Taking a sip of the hot coffee, he groaned a little. It was everything he'd hoped it would be. Dark, rich, almost chocolatey.

"Was that a good groan for the coffee or a bad groan for what you think dinner might be?" Smart-ass.

"Good groan bitch." Raising his mug. "This is some stellar joe." Then narrowed his eyes at his brother. "Are you saying I should be worried about what your wife is gonna try to feed me?"

Sammy was still grinning a smart-assed grin and he couldn't help it, it made him happy. "De decided you needed Des' famous fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy." Sam chuckled, pleased with himself.

Ooohhh...Fried chicken. "What makes it famous?"

"She fries it in bacon grease." Said like it was no big deal. That his wife wasn't basically frying chicken in ambrosia. His mouth was already starting to water at the mere thought. But he reined himself in. There was a late breakfast to get through first. He refused to say the other b-word, he wasn't that big of a girl. 

"Damn, Sam. Did you like go find my dream girl and then marry her?" His tone was a little teasing, but damn it if that didn't seem like exactly what his brother did. "Pie, classic rock LP's, and now frying chicken in bacon grease?"

Sam looked at him thoughtfully for a minute. What had started as a joke now seemed serious. He took a drink of his coffee and was fishing around in his head for a way to get it back to the lighter side of things. Dad was going to be here tonight and that was about all of the heavy he was willing to take today.

Then Sam grinned. "Looks like I did." And sounded smug as all hell saying it. Reaching for the coffee pot, Sam lifted it at him. He nodded and held out his mug to be topped off. "They should be back pretty soon. Des will need help getting everything up."

After taking a long drink of his coffee, he set the mug down on the counter-top by the sink. "Lemme get a quick shower in. Any other plans for today?"

Sam shoved him towards the bathroom. "Oh, De has a list." Sam was grinning. "Don't worry, we negotiated a nap at about three. Since Dad won't be here until later tonight, we figure a late nap will be good since there's no fucking way she's goin' to bed before he shows." His brother shook his head good-naturedly, chestnut hair flopping around. "It took some doing, we had to agree to ice cream before she'd cave on the nap."

He looked back over his shoulder and grinned at Sam. "And you say I'm easy." Then trotted off to hop in the shower as he listened to Sam laugh. Damn, things were finally looking up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you're enjoying it. I welcome all comments, concerns, and constructive criticism.
> 
> Thanks to the lovely people who have left kudos! I really appreciate them.


	9. Chapter Nine: Des

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Des and De at the store.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, not beta'd. Any and all mistakes are mine.

Pushing the cart through the store, she did a quick mental inventory of what they had at the house and what she already had in the cart. Deciding that yeah, they were probably going to need more potatoes. Bobby called this morning already and said he was on his way also. As Bobby had said to her, sometimes Sam and John in a room together needed a referee. And that it was rather not okay to shoot rock salt into your father-in-law within twelve hours of meeting him. Which, yeah, she could see the wisdom in that.

As she turned the cart towards the produce department, De's voice broke through her mental list making. "I happy Unca Dean is home." De's face had a smile a mile wide this morning, much like her Daddy. "You fink Unca Dean is happy to be home?"

"I think Uncle Dean is ecstatic to be home." Before De could ask what ecstatic meant, she nodded. "Really happy to be home." And she didn't think it, she knew it. 

"Daddy's happy too." She grinned at her daughter stating the obvious, but she was almost three, kind of what she did. 

"Yeah, Daddy's happy too." And he was. In the almost five years her and Sam had been together she had only felt him this happy a handful of times; the first time she told him she loved him, the day they found out she was pregnant with De, the day De was born, the day they got married, the first time De said Dada, and last night.

Grabbing a bag of potatoes, she put them in the cart and leaned down giving De a kiss on the nose. "Everybody is happy this morning. Think that means we'll have a happy day?" She was trying not to think about later tonight when John would be arriving. The phone call Sam had with the man made her feel a little better about it, but it was still a dicey proposition.

"Yeah! We gonna take Unca De to the Zoo!!" A couple of other shoppers looked over at the two of them as De was basically shouting in the produce section. She gave them the once over as if daring them to say anything about how her daughter was acting. One set of eyes looked away quickly, the other set just smiled as they pushed their cart by the two of them.

"That's a good place for him." A snarky voice behind her laughed.

"Unca Gabe!" De squealed as she started climbing out of the cart.

"Good morning short stuff! A little birdie told me that you have a very special visitor." While receiving his good morning hug from his 'niece'. Gabe set her back in the cart.

"Unca De is home! Mommy gonna make waffles and bacon and then we goin' to the Zoo, and then we gonna get ice cream, and then we gonna go to the park, and then..."

"I seem to remember a nap between ice cream and the park." She had the feeling that De was gonna try and snake her way out of that.

"But I not gonna be tired." De looked at her Unca Gabe to back her up.

Gabe raised his hands. "Oh no short stuff, if you already agreed to the nap, there isn't a thing I can do for you." Gabe grinned at her. "Plus if I try to help you get out of naptime, your Mommy won't make me waffles."

She grinned back, because the little fucker wasn't wrong. "You don't want Unca Gabe to not get any waffles do you?"

De shook her head so hard she was afraid her daughter may give herself whiplash. "I sorry Unca Gabe, I want you to have waffles with us." Her daughter's little voice nearly mournful with regret.

"I know you do sweetheart." She rolled her eyes as Gabe took a couple of Dum-Dum's out of his jacket pocket, looked at the flavors and handed one to De. "I think this should make us feel better." Unwrapping his and sticking it in his mouth, before helping De with hers.

De took the sucker from her uncle with a pleased smile. "I wuv you Unca Gabe." Sticking the sucker in her mouth.

Gabe smiled at her around his sucker. "Right back at ya sweetheart." He took the sucker out of his mouth to give her another kiss on the head. "Good to know someone around here does."

She rolled her eyes, and was getting ready to pop off at him, when De took the sucker out of her mouth. "Mommy wuvs you too Unca Gabe, she just says you drive her cwazy all da time."

Gabe looked at her with a smirk, she shrugged back. "You know what they say about out of the mouths of babes..." Then laughed at him. "You would be disappointed to learn that you don't drive me a little nuts."

"Too true my dear, too true." Then leaned down to his favorite co-conspirator. "But it's so much fun seeing Mommy get all worked up, isn't it?" Her daughter nodding happily.

Gently poking De in the stomach, she grinned at her daughter. "Traitor. He gives you a sucker and you sell me out like that?" De was starting to giggle. She shook her head mockingly at the two of them. "I thought you had my back. I see, I'm only good for waffles and bacon, is that it?" Teasing the two of them.

"Oh no Mommy." Her daughter's blue eyes, shaped like her Daddy's, widened. "You good for chicken an' pancakes an' sketti an' cookies an' scambled eggs an' Daddy wikes you omwets..." De trailed off as she looked down at Gabe who was nearly doubled over and screaming with laughter. "Why you waffin' Unca Gabe?"

Gabriel could barely talk through the giggles. "I don't think that's what your Mommy meant."

De studied him for a second. "I thought Mommy was sayin' she only made waffles and bacon good. But she makes wots of fings good."

"Well thank you for making me feel better about my cooking skills." Kissing De's forehead.

"You welcome Mommy." De looked up at her, talking around her sucker. Lucky for her, she had a great deal of practice translating De's sucker talk. "Can we go home now? I wanna see Unca De." 

"Well, we can go soon if we can get Uncle Gabe to help finish up the shopping." Cocking an eyebrow at the shorter man.

Gabe rolled his eyes but nodded his agreement. "The things I do for you two." Winking at De. "What do I need to get?"

Pushing the cart towards him. "You can go get the stuff from dairy. Eggs, couple pounds of butter." Calculating in her head. "Two one pound containers of sour cream, and two pints heavy whipping cream." She grinned at Gabe. "You need the list?"

He waved a hand at her. "Of course I don't." Starting to move off with De. "We'll meet you at the check-out in a flash." Then started to speed up much to De's delight.

She shook her head as she watched the two of them race off. Then realized if she wasn't standing at the check-out when they reached it, it could become embarrassing. Amusing, but embarrassing. So it really did behoove her to get her ass moving.

Speeding to the bakery aisle, she grabbed some pecans and caramel chips. De and Sam would want blueberry waffles, but she just wasn't really feelin' those today so she'd also make a batch of caramel pecan ones. She was sure Gabe would be down for those, and maybe Dean.

As much as she felt like she knew Dean through everything Sam had told her over the last five years, which as far as she could tell really was everything that Sam knew, she wasn't sure about what kind of waffles he would eat. And stupid as it was, that bothered the fuck out of her. But considering the fucking minutia she knew about Dean Winchester, you'd think what his favorite flavor of waffles were would be somewhere in all of it.

She also knew she was starting to obsess over this nothing thing to avoid thinking of later today. She was happy Dean was here, that he and Sam were reconnecting. They were supposed to. She'd been in their combined presence all of ten seconds and she could just feel the bond between them, like it was a physical thing. It had always hovered in the background of Sam's emotions, so it was a familiar feeling, just intensified a thousand fold. She had adjusted to it quickly.

But the prospect of John Winchester made her twitchy and tense. Some, because the notion of him coming was starting to make Sam a little twitchy and tense, and she was picking up on it, and some because the man was an unknown quality, even to his sons. They could both tell her what a badass hunter the man is, but from there they diverge dramatically. Dean, deferential and respectful, rationalizing most everything John has done over the years. Sam, the near polar opposite, obviously. Picking up and taking off not long after you turn fifteen? You probably don't have the best view of your parent. She knew that one from personal experience.

Making her way to the check-out, she shoved it all away again. There wouldn't be damn thing she could do until he was here. She would have no problems punting John Winchester out of her home if he didn't act right. And Bobby would be there as back-up. It would have to do.

Getting to the check-out she saw Gabe and De coming towards her, giggling. She looked at the cart and it seemed like just the things she had asked for were in there, but with these two, you never knew.

Gabe looked up at her and for a brief second she could see a flash of concern in his eyes. He raised an eyebrow in a silent question as he smiled down at whatever De was chattering away about. Her guess was all of the things she was going to do with Uncle Dean in detail.

Waving him off with a head shake, he shrugged back. When they reached her, he leaned over and poked her with his index finger on her temple. "Stop thinking so hard. I could feel you obssessing in the Dairy section." Gabe grinned at her hands. "Oooh...are you doing caramel pecan waffles?"

"Good to see you have your priorities straight Gabriel." Rolling her eyes. "Yes, I'm not feeling the blueberry today." She looked down in the cart. They had gotten just what she had asked for. "Let's get checked out so we can get home."

"To Daddy and Unca De!" DeDe squealed, making the cashier cringe just a touch.

She put a finger to her lips. "How about we try inside voice for awhile." Giving her daughter a look letting her know this wasn't an idle suggestion.

De nodded. "Okay Mommy." 

After checking out and loading their bags into De's wagon, she looked at Gabe. "You coming to the apartment now, or are you going to wait? We'll eat around noon." She looked at her watch. It was only about ten-fifteen.

"Think I'll let the Winchester's have a little alone time." Gabe grinned. "Plus if I go over now, you'll put me to work." He shook his head. "No thanks." He gave De a kiss on the head. "Me and Uncle Baz will see you in a little while sweetie."

After giving him a hug and kiss back, De smiled up at him. "You gotta 'member to bwing more candy. I gotta share with Unca De."

Gabriel gave her a serious nod. "I'll remember." 

Then Gabe turned to her and smiled. "We'll see you guys in a while. Do you need us to bring anything..." Looking down at De in the wagon amongst all of the bags. "Other than candy?"

She shook her head. "Nah. Think I've got everything. All of the other Sunday brunch usuals cancelled because..." Looking down at her kid. "They all celebrated Jess's show a little too vigorously last night."

Gabe chuckled. "So just the six of us then." He leaned over and gave her a quick squeeze around the shoulder. "It's really gonna be just fine dearie, trust me." Speaking low so De couldn't hear.

"Yeah." She smiled down at her daughter. "You ready to head for home, Missy?" De nodded enthusiastically. "Well then, let's get going." Starting to pull the wagon, she waved to Gabriel. "See you in a bit."

Walking back to the apartment, she hoped Gabe was right. Because she was pretty sure if John Winchester fucked this up, there wouldn't be a third chance from his youngest son, and he could quite possibly lose his eldest son in the process.

Listening to De hum, she realized after a couple of minutes, her daughter was humming "Here Comes the Sun" by the Beatles. Shaking her head with a small laugh to herself, she started to hum along.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you're enjoying it. Please feel free to leave any comments, concerns, constructive criticism, etc...
> 
> Thanks to those who have left kudos and comments. They are much appreciated.


	10. Chapter Ten: Dean

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean gets the story of how Sam met Des and then gets to spend a little one on one time with his new sister-in-law.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, not beta'd. Any and all mistakes are mine.

After taking a shower and getting dressed, Dean walked back out to the living room to see Sam shutting his cel phone. When his baby brother realized he’d entered the room, Sam turned. “Oh, hey. That was Des. Her and De are stopping at the coffee shop to grab something for the walk back.” Sam grinned. “So it’ll be at least a half an hour before they’re here.”

“Isn’t there a coffee shop like four blocks from here?” He could have sworn he saw one.

Sam laughed. “That’s where they’re goin’ dude.” His brother shook his head. “First of all, Sunday at ten-thirty in the morning, it’s gonna be busy. Secondly, a good friend of Des’ works there.” Sam rolled his eyes. Apparently this was a friend that his brother wasn’t the biggest fan of. “Rae’s cool and all, but she’s…” Sam kind of grinned. “All about hair, make-up, and tattoos. She’s goin’ to school for it now, which is good, because she’s miserable at the coffee shop.” Sam nearly giggled. “Says all of the bad hair and make-up she’s forced to look at there all day make her cranky.”

“And Des is friends with her.” He felt like he should be contributing to the conversation at least a little, even if he’d rather just sit and listen to Sammy go all day.

“WE’re friends with her.” Sam shrugged. “She’s cool, and is someone you can totally count on to be there when you need them to be, it’s just that she really likes hair, make-up, and tattoos.” Like Sam had been subjected to the torture and was warning him that his turn in the barrel would eventually come.

He grinned. “Gotcha.” Looking towards the kitchen. “Then that means I’ve got time for another cup of coffee.”

Sam grabbed the travel mug that was on the dining room table; and how weirdly awesome was it that his brother had a fucking DINING room to even put a table in. “Already grabbed you one. It’s a nice morning, I figured we could wait for the girls on the front steps.”

“Let me grab my jacket.” Noticing that his brother had put a hoodie on. Plus, his smokes were in his jacket. He wasn’t a heavy smoker, or even a moderate one at that. He liked one in the morning with his coffee, and he liked one after sex. And maybe a couple of others through the day. But that was it. Very rarely did he have more than five in a day.

When they got outside and had taken seats on the front steps, he rooted around in one of his jacket pockets pulling out a smoke and his lighter. He noticed Sam looking at him out of the corner of his eye. Exhaling the first drag of the day, he turned. “Yeah, I still smoke.” He gave his brother a smirk. “Hit me with your best shot.” Firmly expecting the lecture Sam first gave him when Sam was thirteen.

But his brother surprised him by only shrugging. “Des smokes some too.” Sam grinned. “Says it saves her from killing the populace.” His brother laughed. “She’s like you, has maybe five to ten a day.” 

He gave his brother another sideways glance. Last night he had made sure to tread carefully as to not end up with a pissed off Sam in his face, so they had purposely let the conversation stay light and he hadn’t really gotten much intel about how Sam and Des actually got together.

“So how did you two meet? Did you meet her here?” 

Sam smiled for a second and then it was gone in a flash. “I’d been gone for maybe five, six weeks.” Sam took a drink from his own travel mug. “When I left, I knew if I went to a big city it would be harder for you and Dad to find me. And then I figured since we spent most of our time in the Midwest and all points west of there, you two wouldn’t expect me to go east.” His brother turned and for a second he saw the fifteen-year-old that had left him behind. “I just thought D.C. would be good. It’s got lots of libraries and museums.” Sam shrugged. “At the time I thought I was done with school.”

That made sense. He had searched in some of the larger cities, but Sam was right. They’d all been west of the Mississippi. “How’d you meet Des?”

“Like I said, I’d been gone five, six weeks. I was down to my last ten bucks.” Sam gave a rueful smile. “And about an hour away from calling you to come get me.” Before he could say a word, Sam went on. “While I was sitting in the park a few blocks over, some older guy…” Sam looked at him. “Maybe a few years older than you, came up and started talking to me.” Sam shuddered for a second. He wasn’t sure if Sam was chilled by the slight breeze or the memory. “I could tell right away that this dude was sleazy as all hell, but I couldn’t shake him without resorting to violence, and since I was a runaway…”

Yeah, he got it. He shook his head thinking of Sam having to deal with assholes like that. “What happened?”

Sam grinned. “As I was trying to brush this dude off, some kid, maybe a couple years older than me, walks up and starts talking to me like we’re best friends.” Sam grinned again. “You know, ‘Hey man, where you been, been waitin’ on you forever’. Shit like that.”

He smiled. “Made scumbag think you weren’t alone. Nice.”

“Yeah.” Sam was still smiling. “The other guy took off right away.”

“What happened after that?” He took a drink of his coffee, savoring it. He didn’t get coffee like this often, usually surviving on gas station swill.

“Kid looked at me for a minute, asked if I was staying anywhere or if I was sleeping in the park. When I told him the park, he nodded and told me to come with him.” Sam looked down for a second. “Told me that him and a bunch of other kids were squatting in an abandoned townhouse. I would have to go meet Des and she would decide if I could stay.”

That pissed him off a little. At the time, Sam was obviously in need of help and yeah, that kid had helped him out, but to tell him that it was gonna be up to someone else if Sam could seek shelter? It’s a good thing this had happened long ago.

Sam shook his head, smiling just a little. “At the time Xav told me even if Des wouldn’t let me stay there, they’d find a safe place for me. It was that she sheltered a lot of younger kids and they came first.” Sam’s tone became more solemn. “There had been issues with some of the older kids taking advantage of younger ones. She was just being careful.” Like Sam had known what he was thinking.

“Okay.” Stubbing out his cigarette. Looking around he noticed an old coffee can half-full of cigarette butts. He threw his on top of the pile. “I can understand that. So what happened when you met her?”

Sam grinned his mega-watt smile, dimples on full blast. He basked in the warmth of it. And if that made him a chick, so be it. “Xav took me to where they were squatting.” The smile dimmed. “Dean, there were kids as young as eleven there. Kids who had left really abusive homes. Kids that had ditched the foster system. And kids who simply had no one and nowhere to go.” Sam shook his head, girly hair flying. “And for an abandoned townhouse they were squatting in, it wasn’t too bad. They’d managed to tap into the city’s electric, and for some reason, whoever owned the building hadn’t shut the water off. Granted there was no hot water, but they had hauled in an old stove and hooked it up, so they could heat water.”

“Sounds better than some of the places Dad left us at.” He winced internally as he said it. He really hadn’t wanted to remind Sam of why he left.

But his brother just laughed. “It was. Trust me.” Sam bumped his shoulder with a loose fist. “Well, we get there and Xav is asking one of the younger kids where Des was, and the kid just pointed up, telling Xav she had been back for about an hour.”

His brother went on. “I followed Xav upstairs.” Looking at Sam, he could see the half smile on his face as Sam was remembering. “He was telling me that it was probably going to be fine, Des was cool.” Sam chuckled. “By the time we reached the top of the stairs, I could smell the weed.” He chuckled along with his brother. That had been a slight, but welcome shock last night, seeing Sam blaze up a fat joint.

Waving a hand as if to say ‘yeah, yeah’, Sam went on. “Xav knocked on the door and then just went in.” Sammy’s smile got wider by the moment. “I followed him into the room and there was Des, laying on a crappy queen sized mattress, smoking a joint and listening to The Who.” Sam shook his head, smiling. “Man, when she sat up and looked at me…” His baby brother shook his head again, and then turned to look at him. “It felt like…” Sam stopped and the look in his brother’s eye’s made his heart twist. Sam’s eyes were full of love and regret. 

He bumped Sam’s shoulder with his own. “It’s okay Sammy. I get it.” And he did, Des had looked at Sam the same way he had looked at his younger brother. “So it’s safe to assume she let you stay.” Finishing with a grin.

Sam laughed. “Yeah.” Then his laughter faded away. “She asked me a bunch of questions, like why I ran, were you guys going to be seriously looking for me…” Sam shrugged. “All the usual things.” Sam chuckled again. “And as much as I wanted to lie about shit, I just couldn’t. I told her everything.”

He could feel his eyebrows racing to find the top of his forehead. “Everything?!” He wasn’t sure how he felt about his sister-in-law knowing every aspect of he and his brother’s very non-conventional relationship.

At least Sam had the good sense to turn a little pink. “Well, not that.” He relaxed a little. “At least not then.” Stress level back up.

“Sam…”

Sam shook his head with a slight smile. “Dude, she figured it out on her own.” Then Sammy’s smile got way bigger. “She knows and is okay with it.” 

He knew his eyes had to be popping out of his head with the look he was giving his brother. “Okay with it?! She was just fine with the fact that you were…” Realizing they were outside where anyone could hear them he left his sentence unfinished. 

Sam just nodded. “Yeah. Said considering how we were raised, it wasn’t surprising.” There seemed to be something else that Sam wasn’t saying but he figured it could wait until they weren’t sitting outside on the stoop. 

He took a drink of coffee. Thinking that even if Des knew about him and Sam, it hadn’t seemed to affect how she treated him or how she felt about him being there. She had seemed almost as excited as De and Sam that he was there. And he wasn’t gonna lie, he had melted into the tight hug she had given him before he had gone to bed. There was just something about it that had made him feel, well, better was the only word that made sense. He felt better. Physically and emotionally. It was a little weird, but he was chalking it up to the situation. 

“Yeah, okay.” He didn’t think there was much more to say about it.

Sam shook his head. “Dude, you’re acting like she figured this out last night.” Sam chuckled. “She figured it out about a month after Xav brought me back to the townhouse.” Sam was still laughing, which as much as he liked hearing it, really wasn’t helping right now. He thought back over the last evening. At no point had Sam’s wife given any indication that she had any idea about the relationship he’d had with Sam before Sam took off.

Sam grabbed the back of his neck with a giant paw and gave him a slight shake. “Dude, chill the fuck out.” He turned and saw the amusement still on his brother’s face. But Sam’s voice was serious. “As far as Des is concerned…” Sam’s smile turned sweet. “You’re a fucking rock star for basically raising the two of us.”

He could feel the heat in his face and knew he was blushing furiously. Goddamn it. But before he could get a thought in his head to respond to that little nugget, both he and Sam could hear the girls coming up the sidewalk.

Turning, he tried not to laugh but then gave up when Sam started to fucking giggle. De was in a red wagon, riding on top of a mound of groceries drinking something out of a small to-go cup. Looking like it was something she did every day. Then again, she probably did. The previous evening Sam had admitted that the three of them didn’t have a car. His brother had been quick to say that Bobby had found one for them and had started work on it. He wondered if that old ’68 Camaro that Bobby had picked up a month or so ago was the one Bobby was talking about. He’d have to call the man and find out. If it was, he wanted in on it. Not that he didn’t trust Bobby’s work, he’d just feel better if his hands were in the mix.

Des shrugged with a smile. “She wanted to ride.”

Sam shook his head. “Nah, I was just wondering if we have any money left.” Although Sam didn’t sound too concerned. He worried a little though. He didn’t want Sam and Des to be spending all of their money feeding him. 

“Duh.” Des rolled her eyes. “You forget young Padawan, I am a Master of the grocery shopping trip.” Then she grinned. “Between the store card, other sale stuff, and coupons, I saved like fifty bucks.” Then she shrugged. “Foodstamps are gone for the month though.” For whatever reason it hadn’t occurred to him that Sam and his family would be on foodstamps.

He looked over to Sam expecting to see embarrassment, but Sam was just smiling at his wife and daughter. “Babe, it’s the end of the month. I think we’ll survive on the small mountain of groceries De is sitting on.”

He had to agree. There was a hell of a lot of food in the wagon. Then again, looking over at his brother, Sam didn’t look like he missed meals.

His niece had finished whatever she was drinking and decided to join the fun. “Morning Unca De! Mommy gonna make us waffles!” Lifting her arms to him. He grinned as he picked her up.

“Waffles huh?” Smiling as she nodded her head like she was one of those bobble-head dolls. “You must really like waffles.”

De’s smile was relentless. “Yeah! Mommy’s gonna make me an Daddy booberry ones.” Then she looked at him. “You like booberries too Unca De?” He thought fast, because while he liked blueberries, they weren’t a favorite.

“There will also be caramel pecan for those of us not feeling very blueberry today.” Des gave him a wink.

He shot her a quick grin before turning back to De. “Think I have to go with Mommy on the waffles. I think I’ll like the caramel pecan better.” He was damn sure he would.

“Tha’s okay Unca De. Unca Gabe doesn’t like booberries too.” Then she smiled brightly again. “Unca Gabe said he’d member to bring more candy since I told him I had to share wif you. He gave me a sucker at da store.” No wonder she was jacked up. “And coffee at Auntie Wae’s!”

He looked over at Sam and Des who were grinning. “Coffee?” 

“Steamed milk with caramel sauce.” Des laughed. “She calls it coffee and we don’t stop her.” He looked at his sister-in-law and grinned a little. Des was smirking at him. “She already has more energy than the Energizer Bunny, no need to add caffeine to the mix.” Then looked at him and Sam. “And we need to get this stuff inside. There’s melty stuff.”

“Melty stuff?” He huffed out a chuckle. “That’s descriptive.”

Des gave him a mock evil-eye. “It’s stuff and it’s melty. Do you really want to bag on my description of choice or would you rather have ice cream that will go with the pie I’m gonna make while you and Sam go run De ragged at the park later?”

Making a little show of thinking about it, he looked at De and Sam who were looking at him with anticipation. Sam, he was sure waiting to see how he would react to the ribbing from Des; and De was just trying to follow the plot.

“That’s a tough choice. Make fun of my sister-in-law or make sure there’s ice cream for pie?” He grinned at his niece. “What do you think sweetheart?”

De bounced in his arms. “ICE CREAM!!!” He flinched a little, because damn. Right. In. His. Ear.

Sam reached over and took De out of his arms. “Honey, we talked about yelling when someone is holding you. What’s the rule?”

De looked down at the gentle chastisement. “No yelling ‘cause it hurts ears.” Then looked back to him, her little blue eyes teary. “I sowwy Unca De. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” Damn, he was about to fucking cry for nearly making her cry. When did he start growing a uterus?”

“That’s okay sweetheart. Just give me a little warning next time and we’ll be good.” Feeling relief sweep through him when she smiled at him.

“”Kay Unca De.” She was leaning away from Sam and getting ready to wrap her arms around his neck to give him a hug.

“De. Why don’t you hand Uncle Dean your coffee before you hug him,” Des grinned at the two of them. “I’m sure Uncle Dean doesn’t want kid coffee down his back.” He gave his sister-in-law a grateful grin.

“Okay Mommy.” De handed her cup to Sam instead of him and then gave him a hug. “I weally sowwy Unca De.”

“I know kiddo. It’s okay.” Returning her hug. 

“While this is cute and all.” Des was smirking at him and Sam. “Melty stuff.” She reached down and started to grab bags, as did Sam. Des had handed what looked to be a sack of bread to De. By the time they were done, the only thing he was holding was his niece.

“I can help you know.” Seeing Sam and Des loaded with grocery bags.

“You can get the door.” Sam grinned at him. “The code is 2407”

He gaped at his brother for a second. “Cute” But as he was punching in the numbers he noticed that the plate he thought was stainless steel was actually silver, as was the doorknob. Huh. He couldn’t believe the inventive way Sam and his wife thought of to help ward the whole building.

Once they got everything inside, Sam took De out of his arms. “You didn’t take a bath last night Missy, and you went to the store with Mommy before you got one this morning. Why don’t we get one in while Mommy is putting groceries away.” Sam looked over to him. “You comin’?”

He shook his head. “Nah, I’ll help get groceries put away.”

Sam shrugged his broad shoulders and left the room with De in his arms, listening to her tale of grocery shopping.

Turning to his sister-in-law, he gave her a game smile. “Need help?”

She shook her head. “Not really.” She was already putting things away. “Why don’t you just sit down and enjoy your coffee.” As she was opening the fridge to put stuff in it. “Did you sleep okay? Have enough pillows and blankets?”

“Uh, yeah.” He’d never really had anyone worry about how he slept, except for Sam. And that had been a long time ago. “Yeah. Slept like a baby. Didn’t even wake up until ten.”

Des smiled at that. Not a smirk, or a grin. But a smile of genuine happiness, like her day would have been affected if he hadn’t slept well. “You and Sam get to talk?”

“Yeah.” Then smiled back at her. “He told me how the two of you met.”

Des did grin when he told her that. “God, when Xav brought him back to the townhouse, Sam looked like a lost puppy.” He looked over to her and she had stopped putting groceries away and was looking towards the doorway that Sam and De had gone through to go get De her bath with her eyes full of love. “I knew the second I laid eyes on him that he was gonna worm his way into my heart and never fucking leave.” His sister-in-law didn’t sound unhappy with that thought at all.

“Sam can have that affect.” He could attest to that personally. From the second Mom and Dad had brought Sammy home from the hospital he had been head over heels.

“Says the person who’s been wrapped around his finger for his entire life.” Des smiled at him. 

He shrugged his shoulders. “It’s the puppy-dog eyes.”

“You’re telling me.” Des shook her head with a grin. “Man, I hate it when he uses those when I’m fucking right.”

He sputtered out a laugh. And just couldn’t help himself; he got up and gave his sister-in-law a tight hug. “I feel ya.”

She hugged him back quickly and then let go to continue putting stuff away. “Right?!” She grinned as she threw a package of caramel chips at his head. “Can you set those by the coffee maker?” Chuckling. “Maybe we should start a support group ‘Those who cannot say no to Sam Winchester puppy eyes’.” Still laughing. “Granted, we’d be a small group. Me, you, Bobby. Maybe Pastor Jim.”

“Doubtful on Jim.” He was still laughing. “That man has always seemed to be able to say no to us.”

“He’d be in the group because De has learned from the master and Jim doesn’t say no to her.” Des’s voice was highly amused. “Pisses Sam off to no end.”

He started to cackle. Oh, he loved the idea that Sam would get pissed that his kid could work Jim where he hadn’t been able to. He loved his brother, but Sam was one of the most competitive people he’d met in his life. And that was saying something considering how competitive both he and Dad were. “I’d pay good money to see that.”

She was laughing nearly as hard as he was. “And it would be so worth it.” She caught her breath. “You know that face that Sam makes when he’s displeased?” She used air quotes for displeased, like that was Sam’s word and she would have used something else entirely. He had a pretty good idea what that would be.

“You mean his bitch face?” He grinned at her. “Know it well.”

“That would be the one.” She laughed again. “It’s usually there about five minutes into a visit with Jim, along with a whole lot of ‘you never let me and Dean do that’. It’s kind of awesome.”

At the glee in her voice, he absolutely howled. Even though he knows he’s the one mostly responsible, Sammy had always been a lot spoiled and it was good to have a partner in commiseration. Once he caught his breath, he looked over to Des, who was still grinning at him. “And it’s all your fault ya know.” She didn’t sound aggravated in the least.

He wasn’t sure how to reply though. Luckily he didn’t have to because apparently she wasn’t done yet. “I’m just giving you shit.” She put the last of the stuff that needed either fridge or freezer away. Looking towards the bathroom for a second, she looked back to him. Her eyes were still soft, but the expression was serious. “You did a pretty spectacular job for a kid raising a kid.” Now there was a smile. “Now I see why he thinks you’re an amazing man.”

Blushing hard, he had no idea how to react to that. Part of him wanted to crawl in a hole and die of embarrassment. Part of him wanted to give an ‘aw-shucks’ smile and be humble. Part of him wanted to stand up and own the hell out of it. And part of him was pissed. If Sam thought he was so goddamned amazing, why did Sam leave him like he didn’t matter at all?

Like she could read his goddamned mind, Des shook her head. “Sam leaving didn’t have a thing to do with you. It was all John.” She looked at him with a stubborn set to her jaw. “He has missed you every fucking day he’s been gone. Every. Damn. Day.” He was fascinated by how emotional she was about this. Nobody had really worried about him or how he felt about a goddamned thing in a long time, other than Bobby, that he almost felt overwhelmed. But every time he would get to that point, either Sam, Des, or De seemed to know and would just say or do the right thing to calm him down. Sam, that was expected. But the girls? A pleasant surprise.

Des sat down at the table with him and took his hand. It felt odd, her hands were small and delicate with long fingers. The last hand he had really held a hand had been Sammy’s gigantic mitts. Squeezing his hand, he looked up into blue eyes, that while not as bright a blue as De’s, were shot through with flecks of silver and gold. “You know that, right? Not a thing to do with you.” She held his hand tighter. 

He squeezed back. “Yeah, I know.” His voice was rough, and this was edging into territory he really wasn’t comfortable with yet.

Des must have sensed it, because she gave his hand a last squeeze before letting go and grinning at him. “Good, because I really don’t have time to kick your ass AND make waffles and bacon today.” Sliding her chair back and getting up. “Maybe tomorrow.”

“You’re welcome to give it the college try, but even Sammy can’t take me down.” He grinned at her raised eyebrow. “Unless I’m trying to make him feel better about his skills.”

She smiled. “Sure…” Then jerked her head towards the stove. “Think you can handle bacon while I deal with waffles?”

He nodded, happy to have something to do. Getting out of his chair, he let his sister-in-law tell him where everything was, and then the two of them worked in compatible silence while they waited for Sam and De to finish up with De’s bath time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, I hope your enjoying it! I love getting feedback, so please feel free to leave any comments, concerns, or constructive criticism!
> 
> Thanks to those who have clicked that kudo button and that have taken the time to comment. Love them like Dean loves pie.


	11. Chapter Eleven: Bobby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bobby hits the road and has another conversation with John.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, I hope you're enjoying it! I love hearing from you, so please feel free to leave any comments, concerns, or constructive criticisms!
> 
> Thanks to those who have clicked the kudo button and that have taken the time to comment! They are much appreciated.

He’d managed to get everything sorted out so he could be on the road by midnight last night. Rufus had just finished a hunt and was heading towards the scrapyard to look after the phones and dogs for him. Oh, Rufus had bitched and moaned about it up until the second he told the man that Dean had found Sam. That shut Rufus up pretty damn quick.

It was nearing eleven am when he pulled into a truck stop just west of the Ohio Turnpike. He was fine on fuel for his truck, just not so fine on fuel for him. Bypassing the diner that was in the place, he grabbed a cup of the extra-caffeinated brew they had. After paying for his coffee and a stale doughnut, he got back on the road.

He had felt better about all of this after talking to Sam and Des around eight o’clock their time. Dean was with them and Sam had talked to John. He’d nearly laughed himself silly at Des’s description of the night before between Dean and De, even if he wasn’t surprised by it one iota. He’d known from the day that little girl was born that the second Dean laid eyes on her, he’d be a goner. As tough as the kid was, Dean had a soft core he kept pretty well hidden from most of the world. Well, he wasn’t most of the world and he’d known Dean since the boy was six years old and knew him better than even Dean realized.

Like he was aware of the relationship the boys had started not long before Sam took off. He knew that he shouldn’t have been as fine with it as he was. But, the way those two boys had been raised, it hadn’t surprised him in the least. John had made Sam Dean’s world, and in return Sam had thought Dean had hung the moon and stars. Then factor in never being in one place long enough to even form a friendship, much less anything else? Dean had learned the lesson of separating the physical from the emotional by the time he’d figured out his dick was meant for more than taking a piss, but Sam, not so much. 

When Sam had finally called him about a year after the boy had taken off; even though John had already told him and Jim what the fool had said to the boy, he’d still asked Sam if what had been goin’ on with his brother was the reason Sam had left. The poor kid had sputtered out denials and then excuses for a good five minutes before he’d taken back over and assured Sam that he didn’t care, it wasn’t like one of them could get knocked up. After Sam had pulled his jaw up off of the floor, the boy had told him that wasn’t the reason. 

That’s when Sam had told him what John had said, that John would rather had Sam die than Mary. He still shook his head when he thought of that. Damn fool. Oh, he knew that Sam could be a pain in the ass, especially back then, but John didn’t mean it, had only said it to wound. Which as Jim pointed out, was nearly worse. To say something like that solely to hurt someone, it was no wonder Sam had left.

Just as he was getting ready to turn the radio up, his cel phone rang. Grabbing it and looking at the number, he sighed. John. Flipping it open and hitting the speakerphone button, he held the phone in his left hand while keeping his right on the steering wheel. “Whaddya want John?”

“Caleb made it to Wyoming. Told him what I knew.” John sounded like he’d gargled gravel. Then again, knowing John he probably hadn’t slept at all since Dean called him about Sam. “You sound like you’re driving.”

“Brilliant deduction idjit.” He may have been a little tired himself. He sighed. “Headin’ to the same place you are. ‘Bout twenty minutes west of the Ohio Turnpike.”

“Then I’m about an hour and a half behind you.” Good. That meant he’d have a little time with the kids before John’s arrival. “Did Sam ask you to come?”

“No, but I figured in case things get heated, I should be there to make sure they don’t get out of hand.”

John chuckled a little wearily he thought. “I think Sam and I can manage without a fist fight.”

That made him laugh. “Ain’t Sam I’m worried about. You say the wrong thing to that boy and Des will be shootin’ a load of rock salt into ya faster than you can spit.” His laughter died down. “Sam says he talked to you last night. That you talked to De.”

John’s tone softened almost immediately. “She’s a talker alright.”

“You mean she let you get a word in?” He knew the smile on his face was a mile wide, but he could just picture that little thing, phone to her ear jabbering away at John like she’d seen him the day before. “Usually Sam or Des have to remind her that I get a turn to talk.”

John’s laughter was loud and genuine. “Sam may have had to remind her of that.” He could hear John take a drink of what he hoped was coffee. “That’s okay, I was happy to listen.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” And he did. If you added them up, he’d spent hours with a phone glued to his ear listening to that little girl at first just babble noises at him that eventually turned to words and he’d hung on every one.

“She knew me Bobby. Was talkin’ to me like she’d seen me the day before.” John’s voice was as close to breaking as he’d ever heard it. 

“Of course she was you idjit.” He shook his head even though John couldn’t see him. “Sam didn’t run off because he hated you. He ran off because he thought you hated him.” He sighed. Sometimes for as smart as Winchester’s could be, they really could be thick as boards.

“I know Bobby.” John sounded miserable. He felt a little bad for his friend. Not too bad considering John created this mess himself, but bad enough to throw the man a bone.

“Sam has been tellin’ De about you and Dean since the day that little angel was born.” His own voice was gettin’ rough. Must be the dust from the highway. “And he hasn’t been the only one. Both Jim and I…” Shit. He really hadn’t meant to bring up Jim’s name.

“Jim Murphy?” John’s voice was edging towards anger.

“You know any other Jim’s that would be tryin’ to talk sense to a Winchester?” He snorted. “Yes, Jim Murphy.” Time to head of the explosion. “Before you get your panties in a twist, Jim didn’t know a thing until I showed up in Blue Earth with the three of them a little before De turned six months old.”

“Because of what happened when Sam was that age.” John sounded like he was calming down, but with John, you never knew. “And the others.”

“Yeah.” He sighed again. “Seemed to be the prudent thing to do. Plus, Sam wanted Jim to baptize her.” 

“Jim marry them too?” For once in his life John seemed to be taking things in stride.

“When Sam turned eighteen.” He chuckled a little. “De was a year old, spent most of the ceremony tryin’ to climb up Sam. Jim finally just grabbed her and held her while he performed the ceremony.”

“I would have liked to have seen that.” John’s voice was strained again. “And you don’t have to tell me again that it’s all my own damn fault Bobby.”

“Wasn’t gonna. Seems like you finally figured that out on your own.”

John snorted. “Hell of a way to figure it out.” John cleared his throat. “What are they like?” He could swear he could hear a smile in John’s voice. “My grand-daughter and daughter-in-law?”

He grinned. Both girls were pieces of work, but he loved ‘em both like he loved the boys, like they were his own. “Well you talked to De, she’s just like that only more when you’re actually in front of her.” He chuckled. “John, she works Jim Murphy like he’s a mark. Drives Sam nuts.” Glad to hear John chuckling on the other end. “She’s a light in the darkness John.” His own voice going rough again. “She really is.”

“What about my daughter-in-law? You mentioned the possibility she may shoot me.” John sounded vaguely amused. 

He snorted. “You say the wrong thing to Sam, it’s not a possibility, it’s a probability. She’s more protective of Sam than Dean, because she won’t hesitate to go after you if she thinks you deserve it.” He thought for a minute, trying to figure out how to describe Des. Because if you went with the dry facts, she seemed to be a match made in heaven for Dean, but her and Sam complemented each other. “Des is a caretaker at heart. She’s a runaway also, ‘bout two years older than Sam. ‘Cept she’d been on the streets since she was thirteen and a half.” He cleared his throat. “Full name is Desdemona Delecamp.” He sighed again. “Think you and Rufus actually investigated her disappearance.”

John was quiet on the other end. He wasn’t worried, he knew John was going through his mental files. “Yeah, I remember. There were a number of disappearances in and around Rabun County in Georgia. She wasn’t one of them. I remember telling Rufus if her body turned up, someone needed to look at the step-dad.” John gave a derisive snort. “Money-grubbin’ bastard.”

He held his tongue. Des’s step-father was a sore subject for him. Des wouldn’t let anyone at least go beat the shit out of the man. Telling them all that the man would eventually get his, that no one got out of this life alive and he would pay for his sins. The man swindles her Mama for what little inheritance that Des’s father had left her and then tries to off her for the life insurance her Daddy had bought when she was born. Man deserved a front-row seat in hell. “Yeah, he is.”

“How are they makin’ ends meet Bobby? Two kids with a kid? Sam in college?” John sounded wary like he was already sure he wouldn’t like the answers. Then again, he couldn’t blame the man. Two kids on their own for longer than they should have been, it was a valid question. 

“Sam got a full ride to Georgetown. Des manages a used and new record shop.” He smiled at John’s chuckle. “Sam works a couple of days a week at a bookstore. I know they pay cheap rent on their place because they helped the landlord with a ghost. Nice place too, lotta space.” He sighed again. “They get some foodstamps and Des and De are covered by Medicaid, Sam through the school. They get by okay. Nobody wants for anything John.” Trying to keep his voice neutral, knowing all the things the boys went without when they were young.

John sighed, but it sounded like a sigh of relief. “What does she like?”

“Who? DeDe?” Knowing exactly who John was talking about, but wanting to yank his chain just a little. After all, what were friends for? “She likes animals.” He laughed. “Really likes animals. I’m pretty positive they’re regulars at the National Zoo.” He thought for a minute. “Loves the water. Sam takes her swimming a lot. She likes to be outside.” Thinking of all the trips to the park he’d made with her. “Oh, and loves cars.” He laughed a little. “I may have had a little somethin’ to do with that.” 

He was nearing the turnpike and needed to get off the phone. “John, I’m almost to the Turnpike.”

“Yeah.” John paused a second. “See you soon Bobby.” Then the man hung up.

Closing his phone, he let out a sigh of relief. John sounded like he’d actually taken his head out of his ass for once when it came to his kids. Hopefully this would go far better than he’d thought. Well, right up until John figures out that the girls are as ‘special’ as Sam. He just hoped John would listen before he blew up and jumped to conclusions.

He shook his head. He’d never gotten that lucky when it came to John Winchester. He just hoped no shots would be fired.


	12. Chapter Twelve: Gabriel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brunch at the Winchester's. From Gabriel's POV.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, not beta'd. All mistakes are mine.
> 
> RL and writer's block had gotten in the way of updates on not only this one, but all of my stories. I'm trying to break through it, so please forgive me if this isn't as good as the previous chapters.

Getting to the entrance of Des and Sam’s building, Gabriel looked over to the keypad and intercom. He usually let himself into the building, but with Dean there, he figured… Oh, he really didn’t care, punching in the code for Sam and Des.

He ambled up the stairs, the sheer joy he was feeling from the top floor apartment adding a little spring to his step. It was all finally coming together. The plan he had enacted when he caught a glimpse of a future he did not want to see come to pass. Okay, it was more than a glimpse, but he really did not want to see it happen.

While Fate may have had her knickers in a bit of a twist because of what he’d done; Dad was nowhere to be seen, so He must have approved. Or didn’t care at all. Gabriel preferred to think it was the former. For all their talk about being His favorites; Michael and Lucifer had it wrong. Being favored wasn’t the goal; being trusted by dear old Dad was. That’s why he was the Voice. He may not have been Dad’s favorite, but he was His most trusted.

And with Michael up in Heaven scheming and Lucifer and his minions below; all enacting their plans since the days of Cain and Abel to entangle the Winchester’s in the ultimate battle between good and evil where no one really won; he’d done a bunk, become a Trickster God and honed all the skills Dad had given him and added a few on his own. At this point, none of his brethren alone were enough to take him on.

Getting to the fourth floor apartment, he paused. Normally he let himself in, but this time he actually knocked; smirking a little as he heard Sam’s voice. “Yeah, coming.” The door opened and he smirked at the confused look on Sam’s face. “You actually knocked?” Then looked around him. “Where’s Balthazar?”

He stepped over the threshold into the apartment. “I thought with your company I should knock, and Balthazar will be joining us later. He was called away for a meeting.” Speaking the last part softly.

“Okay.” Sam gave him a questioning look, but he waved the boy on. He wanted Sam to focus on his family; let him, Balthazar, and Castiel worry about the rest of it. At least for the moment.

“Unca Gabe!” He smiled seeing his ‘niece’ dragging Dean Winchester out from the kitchen. “Dis is Unca Dean!” 

Dean gave him a wry smile as he held out a hand. “So you’re her candy dealer, huh?”

He grinned at Dean while shaking his hand. “You bet.” Scooping De up. “So, you think I brought you some candy?” Smiling at her.

“You always bwing me candy Unca Gabe.” Said as matter-of-factly as an almost three-year-old could. “You never forgetted. Never.”

He grinned at the two Winchester men, then turned back to his ‘niece’. “Well I guess I can’t turn you into a fibber now can I?” Reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a bag of Gummi Bears. “I think these should do for a start.” He gave her a kiss on the temple before setting her down. “Come see me after we eat.” Giving her another bright smile. “They’ll be more.”

Sam shook his head. “You really are her candy dealer.” Chuckling a little. “Gabriel, this is my brother Dean.” Turning to his brother. “Dean, this is Gabriel, he’s Des’s…” Sam looked to him.

“Boss, adopted big brother…” He grinned at Des, who was coming out of the kitchen. “Whatever else she’s calling me on a particular day.”

She grinned back at him. “Depends on how annoying you are.” Then looked around the room. “Where’s Balthazar?” He could feel her wariness. Balthazar did not pass up chances to spend time with De.

“Meeting. He’ll be here soon enough.” Hoping he sounded casual enough to both Des and Sam to have the conversation dropped. And he was also okay with helping it to be dropped. “Are the caramel-pecan waffles ready? I smell bacon.”

Even though he could tell she wasn’t buying any of it, she was wise enough to let it go. At least for the moment. He was sure the second Des had him alone, she’d be asking again. She shook her head at him affectionately. “Yes, the waffles are ready, you freaking hobbitt.”

“Excellent.” He looked over to De who was happily perched in Dean’s arms. Dean looked so much better than the hunter had the last time Gabriel had checked on him a few months earlier. Even though Cas had been keeping an eye on the elder Winchester brother for years now, he felt the need to check in every once in a while. He could easily say he preferred this Dean to the drunken brawler the man was the last time he saw Dean. 

Des looked over to Sam. “You wanna help me get everything out to the table?” Sam nodded and started for the kitchen.

Dean put De down. “You need help?”

He smiled as Des shook her head. “No, Sam can help.” She smiled at the elder Winchester. “So why don’t you sit down and relax. We got this.” Ducking into the kitchen.

Dean looked slightly uncomfortable. Picking De up and sitting her in her booster seat, he glanced over to the hunter. “You okay?”

“Not used to being waited on.” Then grinned. “Unless I’m in a diner.” Taking a seat.

“Feel free to leave a tip if it makes you feel better.” The grin evident in Sam’s voice coming from the kitchen. 

Dean rolled his eyes. “Ha-ha Sam.” Looking at his younger brother as Sam came out of the kitchen with a plate loaded down with bacon.

Des’s voice came from the kitchen. “I keep tellin’ ya babe, you gotta show more leg to get the big tips.” She came out from the kitchen holding a large platter filled with waffles. Setting it on the table, she gave Dean a wink. “Right?”

He wanted to laugh at the look that came over Dean’s face. It was part scandalized, part embarrassed, with just the slightest bit of lasciviousness. But to his credit, Dean recovered quickly with a grin. “Either that or the dimples.” But changed the subject immediately. “Wow.” Looking at the food on the table. “Looks good.” Starting to reach for the platter of waffles.

De looked over to him and he gave her a slight nod. De looked at her Uncle Dean. “Unca De, we gotta say ‘Gwace’…” She looked over to Sam to make sure she’d said the right word. Sam smiled at his daughter, who beamed right back at him. 

Dean straightened in his chair and looked down at De, the slightly arrogant look that seemed to be a permanent part of his features softened. “Oh, yeah, that’s right. We do, don’t we?”

De nodded before bowing her head. When the rest of them had done the same, De glanced over to him and he winked at her, before speaking. “Our Father.” Des nearly snorted and he could see Sam smirk. De spoke up though.

“Tha’s not right, Unca Gabe. Say it how you always says it.” Yeah, he should have tried to have a little talk with his niece before sitting down. He didn’t want to have to explain things twice. Oh well. Hopefully Dean would buy that it was just his own insouciant way of saying a meal-time prayer.

He smiled at his niece. “Sorry, sugar plum. I just thought I’d try something different.”

He bit his lip slightly to stop the laughter at the small scowl on De’s face. Most of the time De tended to favor Des looks wise, this however was one of the times she was entirely Sam’s. “No different. I wike the one you always says.”

Giving her a good natured shrug, he went back to it. Hopefully Dean wouldn’t ask any questions. “Dear Dad.” He could see an eyebrow on Dean’s face rise. But he’d come up with this when De was still a baby and it had always made her smile, so he really didn’t care what Dean thought. “Thanks for the yummies in our tummies and the people we get to share them with. Amen.” The other three adults chimed in with their own ‘Amens’.

“Amen!” De’s voice was happy again. Then turned to Dean. “Now we eat Unca De.”

Dean just chuckled and looked over to him. “Short and sweet.” Grabbing a few pieces of bacon as he watched Des put together a plate for De.

“Wouldn’t want the waffles to get cold.” He turned to Des, holding his plate. “And my plate is criminally empty.”

She rolled her eyes and speared a couple of the caramel-pecan ones and dumped them on his plate. “There you go, sugar junkie.” He’d be offended except this was hardly the worst thing she had ever called him. Plus, she never called him names when she was actually mad at him.

“Thank you my dear.” Looking at the bottles of syrup in the middle of the table. “Oh! You even have caramel syrup!” Des just shook her head as she handed it to him.

Not long after everyone had gotten their plates filled and were in the midst of eating and talking about the activities planned for the day, Balthazar came strolling in.

While De was struggling to get out of her booster seat to get to him, Balthazar smiled as he lifted her. “How are we today?”

“Da best!” Hugging Balthazar tightly. “Unca Gabe bwought me an’ Unca De candy an’ Mommy made waffles, but Unca De didn’t have booberry like me an’ Daddy.” Then wrinkled her nose. “You smell funny.”

He looked at Balthazar with a look in his eyes that he hoped conveyed his annoyance at Balthazar’s carelessness. But smiled at De. “Probably some new smelly cologne that none us like, but he’ll tell us it’s the most expensive one.” Hoping she’d go along with it. 

Thank Dad, because she did. “I wike the ofer one better. Dis one doesn’t smell good.” She climbed down back into her booster chair. “You sit by Unca Gabe and Mommy.”

Dean frowned a little at his niece, then looked back to Sam and Des. “I couldn’t smell anything.”

Des was all over it. “De has a sensitive nose. Trash is a daily thing around here, otherwise she says the kitchen ‘smells funny’.” Des shrugged. “It’s her superpower.” Then went back to eating.

Dean looked at Sam, who just nodded. He then looked down to De and smiled. “Okay then.” Letting the matter drop.

De took back over telling Balthazar all he’d missed since she’d seen him the night before. He sat back, belly full of very yummy waffles, and enjoyed listening to De regale Balthazar, who, as ever, was totally entranced by the tiny human.

When Des made a move to start cleaning up from brunch, he looked over to Balthazar. “Let Balthazar and myself clean this mess up.” He grinned at her. “As thanks for another wonderful meal.”

“I didn’t eat Gabriel.” Balthazar nearly whined, trying to get out of manual labor.

He glanced over. “You’re helping as an apology for missing said meal.” Then glared at his much younger brother.

“Right.” Balthazar stood and helped him gather plates. The moment the two of them were alone in the kitchen, Balthazar turned. “Before you even start, I changed my clothing.”

“Who did you meet with?” Deciding to let it go and get on to more important things.

“Crowley.” Balthazar put the plates in the sink.

“Lilith’s right hand?” He frowned, not happy that someone that high up in the Hell hierarchy had asked to meet with Balthazar.

“He’s looking to move up.” Balthazar smirked for a moment before becoming serious again. “Sam and the girls are going to be on Hell’s radar soon.” The younger angel sighed. “They keep pretty close tabs on John Winchester.”

“Not surprising.” If he were in charge of Hell, he would too; John Winchester was a dangerous man, who, for years had been tracking Azazel and the ‘special’ children the demon been creating. “Why did Crowley come to you?”

Balthazar shrugged. “I would say he’s hedging his bets.” The smooth British voice of Balthazar’s meatsuit was smirking. “Plus, I don’t think he’s as interested in the apocalypse as much as other demons.” The smirk grew. “He enjoys his creature comforts too much.”

“No wonder he asked to meet with you.” He headed back out and grabbed the rest of the dishes. Luckily, Des had wrangled the other Winchester’s into the living room. He waved at them as Des handed him a pile.

“Should we be worried?” She leaned into him slightly as she handed him the dishes, keeping her voice low.

“Not at all.” He had no idea, but he wasn’t going to worry her before he needed to. And with the look she was giving him, she wasn’t buying it. He shrugged. “Not yet? I haven’t gotten the full story from Balthazar so I’m really not sure.” 

She rolled her eyes at him and then in a louder voice. “I’m not letting the two of you do dishes again, the last time it took me days to find stuff. You rearranged my kitchen.” She glared at him as Sam and De laughed. Dean gave him a sympathetic look.

“Your kitchen arrangement makes no sense. But if you insist on supervising, I suppose I can’t stop you.” He grinned at her. “After all, it is your place.”

“Says the person who rearranged my kitchen.” Des looked over her shoulder at her husband, daughter and brother-in-law. “Why don’t you three go on to the zoo.” She looked back to him. “I should take advantage and get payroll done, that way I don’t have to really do anything other than drop paychecks off tomorrow.” Des smiled at him. “And you know, get mine signed.” Her grin got bigger. 

“Okay.” Sam stood. “De honey, go get your zip-up hoodie and your…” De was already out of the room at a dead run. “Shoes.” Chuckling at the last word. He came over and kissed Des. “We’ll only be gone a couple of hours.” Wrapping his arms around his wife. “Hit all the favorites.”

“Which means the entire zoo.” Des shot back in a wry voice.

“We should be able to talk her into skipping the insects and the birds…” Sam smiled. “And maybe…”

Des interrupted Sam with a raised eyebrow. “Is this the kind of talking her into stuff where she ends up out-negotiating you?” Des turned to him with a grin, because she wasn’t wrong; De could talk her Daddy into almost anything. Des turned back to Sam and gave her husband the same grin before giving him a kiss. “The nap is non-negotiable, Samuel. You hear me?”

Sam chuckled just a little. “I hear you.” As Sam was getting ready to turn to Dean, De had come out from her room holding a pair of shoes in one hand and struggling to get into her hoodie.

Dean had jumped up from the couch to help De with her hoodie. “Is that…?” Dean’s grin was nearly incandescent. “Holy crap! She has an AC/DC hoodie?!” He turned to Des and Sam with an amazed look on his face. “They make these this small? In pink?!”

“Dude.” As if there should have been any question. Des shook her head amusedly at Dean. “I work at a record store.” Des shrugged. “And she likes AC/DC.”

Dean grinned up at Sam. “Even your kid has better taste in music than you do.” When Dean finished zipping up De’s hoodie, he picked her up. “You ready for the zoo, kiddo?”

DeDe grinned at her uncle. “Yeah!” Luckily, she had remembered to use her indoor voice and not blow out Dean’s eardrums. “But I gotta say bye to Unca Gabe and Unca Baz. And Mommy. You wait here and I’ll be right back.”

Dean grinned at the two of them as he set DeDe down and she ran straight for the kitchen. “Sounds good kiddo.” Then grinned at Sam. “She’s as bossy as you were at that age.”

Des chuckled and gave Dean a bright smile. “At some point, I’m going to need those examples, so when he tries to tell me she’s just like me when she’s bein’ ‘all sorts of bossy’…” Des leaned into Sam and smiled up at him. “I can refute it with examples.”

Sam kissed the top of her head. “And you’re not bossy at all?” Sam’s voice strained with trying to keep his laughter in. “Ever?”

“Only when I need to be.” Des grinned at her husband and popped him on the ass. “And I’m far nicer in my bossiness.” She arched an eyebrow at Dean. “Like, will you please get my husband and daughter out of here so I can supervise my kitchen being cleaned and do payroll so that I can get paid?”

Dean nodded. “Sure.” Then looked over to Sam. “She’s right, she’s way nicer about being bossy than you.” Grinning like a fool when Sam flipped him off.

Before Sam could defend himself, DeDe came back out. “Unca Gabe, Unca Baz says you supposed to be helpin’ him and you not.” Giving him a dirty look on behalf of her Uncle Balthazar.

He rolled his eyes as he picked De up. “Well, no, I’m not. I’m saying goodbye to you and then I’ll go help Uncle Baz.” Giving her a kiss on the forehead. “You make sure that Daddy and Uncle Dean behave at the zoo.” Then in a stage whisper. “Because the zoo may try to keep them if they don’t.” Smirking at the two Winchester men.

De nodded like he was telling her something very important. “I’ll make sure Unca Gabe, ‘cause Daddy and Unca De still have to take me to the park and get ice cream.”

“And that would be a terrible tragedy.” Des sounded highly amused as she took her daughter from his arms. “You be good. Say hi to the lions for me.” She gave De a kiss. “And don’t eat too much ice cream, you have to have room for chicken later.” As she handed De off to Sam, she gave him a kiss. “Love you. Let me know when you get to the ice cream shop. I might need a milkshake by then.” Looking back at him. “With these two cleaning my kitchen, check the might. I'll need one.”

Sam smiled at him before looking back to Des. “I’m sure you will.” Sam kissed her again. “I’ll talk to you in a few hours. If you need anything…”

“I know, call.” Des smiled, then shook her head good-naturedly. “Now, shoo with the three of you. We have work to do here.”

The second Des was sure the three of them were out of the building and on their way, she turned towards the kitchen. “Balthazar! Get out here!” The good-natured tone gone.

Balthazar came out of the kitchen. “I changed my clothes…I told Gabriel…”

Des interrupted. “I could give a fuck about that. What the hell is going on?”

“That’s an apt way to put it darling.” Balthazar leaned against the door frame to the kitchen. “You, Sam and De will soon be on Hell’s radar.”

“What?” Des looked over to him, wariness in her eyes. “I thought you said…”

“John. They keep track of him.” He sighed. “I was hoping to hold off on the Winchester family reunion for another couple of years, De would be older and…”

“What does that mean Gabriel?” Des’s voice was rising. “You said we were safe from that shit, the whole heaven and hell feud. Now it’s sounding like you knew the minute Sam reunited with his family that a shitstorm was going to happen. Thanks for that fucking heads up.”

Crud. He was really hoping she was going to be reasonable, but no, as his luck had it, she went straight for anger. Even called him by his full name. But, she had a point. He had told her and Sam as little as he could get away with, but damn it, he had wanted them to live their lives, not obsess over Azazel and Hell’s plans for Sam. Heaven's plan for Dean. He wanted for Sam, Des and De to enjoy the reunion with Dean; not go into hunter mode. 

“What happens now? Should they even be going to the zoo?” Des was pacing in front of the dining room table. “Should we tell John not to come?” She stopped pacing and looked at him and Balthazar. “If we tell him not to come and we don’t go anywhere near him, then they won’t know, right?”

He glanced at Balthazar and could tell the other angel was as unhappy as he was with what he was going to have to tell her. He looked back to Des and felt as low as he did when he had made the decision to leave heaven all those eons ago. “Oh sweetie, I wish it were that easy.” He went over and led her to the couch, sitting her down. Both he and Balthazar took seats on either side of her. “They know only two things could make John walk away from a hunt like he just did; a line on the demon who started them on this path or finding Sam.” He put an arm around her shoulder. “And Azazel would know if it was John coming after him.”

“Oh.” He cringed with how small her voice was. “But can’t you just make it so they don’t know?” The silver and gold in her eyes shining with the small amount of grace he had given her all those years ago. “You’re an archangel…”

She fell silent as he shook his head. He had always known at some point that when he went back and rewrote the Winchester’s history, steering Sam towards D.C. instead of Flagstaff, that they would all still have to deal with the machinations of heaven and hell eventually. Hopefully he had changed things enough to where they all had a better chance of making it through alive.

“Remember Lucifer is an archangel. Azazel is also one of the fallen.” Balthazar had taken one of her hands. “And they aren’t the only ones who want war, so does Michael and most of the heavenly host. Gabriel, Castiel and myself are the exceptions to the rule my dear.” Balthazar took a breath before continuing. “Just like there is at least one very high-ranking demon who isn’t interested in turning the planet into a battlefield for the apocalypse.”

He continued on as Balthazar finished. “My goal wasn’t ever to avoid it completely. My goal was to give the Winchester’s a better edge, so that price of winning isn’t nearly everything they hold dear.” Then he gave her a bit of a wolfish smile. “And to remind Michael, Raphael, and the others that as much as we may not like it, you humans were Dad’s favorite creation and even if you are destroying yourselves, it is not our place to help Lucifer speed it up.” The smile became more genuine as he could feel Des relax some. “And for all that moaning about free-will, and how we supposedly don’t have it, I seem to be exercising mine just fine.” He let go of her shoulders and patted her knee. “I’m not going to say it’s going to be easy-peasy and then we'll all sing songs around a bonfire and have a group hug. This is going to take some time and there are going to be some really rough patches, but I think I’ve done enough to insure that we’ll all be okay.”

Des put her face in her hands, “You think.” She lifted her head, eyes tired. “You know what? I think I’m not dealing with this until later. Like tomorrow later. Like when I’ve at least had one basic conversation with my father-in-law later.” She stood up and looked at both of them; and he nearly grinned in pride at the look of inevitability in her eyes. “Because he’s probably going to go on a bender worse than Bobby’s after we tell him about…” A brief smirk crossed her lips. “Nearly everything.” She turned towards the kitchen. “You know you two, those dishes aren’t gonna do themselves.” Then looked back to them a small grin, trying to get back to a small semblance of normal, before walking into the kitchen.

Balthazar looked visibly relieved. “She took that far better than I thought she would. I admit, I thought there would be more yelling.”

“I could yell more if you’d like, but that really doesn’t seem like it’s gonna change anything. And if me being freaked the fuck out and having a massive internal panic attack is handling it well, then, yay me.” Des’s voice was droll from the doorway. “And I am also banking on you having some sort of plan, one that you’ll share when we explain this whole thing to my father-in-law who really will yell.” She paused for a second. “At least if Sam, Bobby and Jim aren’t all exaggerating about him.”

He looked over to Balthazar, who was looking back at him expectantly. He had a plan. Kind of. Maybe. He had a place for them, a safe place. That was the beginning of a plan, right? He could wing the rest, he was a demi-God, of course he could.

He gave them both his most brilliant smile. “Of course I do.” Then marched off to the kitchen to do dishes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you're enjoying it. I love hearing from you guys, so please feel free to leave any comments, concerns or constructive criticisms! I truly appreciate all of them and will respond!
> 
> Big hugs and kisses for those who have clicked that kudo button and that have taken the time to comment!

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Supernatural fan fiction. Hope you've enjoyed it so far.


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